MIDDLESBROUGH have been credited with an interest for Sheffield Wednesday striker Lee Gregory as Chris Wilder begins to build his squad for next season.

According to reports, Boro are keen to bring Gregory to the club for next season with the 33-year-old currently having one year left on his contract at Hillsborough.

Boro have been left with holes to fill, especially in the attacking department after the recent departures of Andraz Sporar, Aaron Connolly and Folarin Balogun who have all returned to their parent clubs after their recent loan spells.

Duncan Watmore and Josh Coburn remain in the squad while Uche Ikpeazu and Chuba Akpom are set to return to the club after their respective loan spells. However, Ikpeazu and Akpom are not expected to be a part of Wilder's plans for next season.

Gregory scored 17 goals in 39 appearances last season and won the League One Player of the Month award for April. His latest goal came in the League One play-off semi final second leg against Sunderland but it wasn’t enough as the Black Cats went on to win 2-1 on aggregate.

Gregory is also said to be attracting interest from recently promoted Wigan Athletic, who will be playing in the Championship next season, and recently relegated Derby County, who will be playing League One football next season.

A former Millwall, Derby County and Stoke City striker, Gregory has spent the majority of his time at Championship level and has scored 146 goals over the course of his career.

After coming through the academy ranks at Mansfield, his career properly began with non-league Halifax where he worked as an electrician whilst playing football. It was there where he earned a big move to in 2014 for a reported fee off £250,000.