MIDDLESBROUGH winger Marcus Tavernier is closing in on a Premier League move with newly promoted Bournemouth.

Boro have reportedly agreed a deal with Bournemouth who are understood to have made an offer that the club couldn’t refuse. The suggestions are that Tavernier is now set to travel down to the south coast to undergo a medical over the next 24 hours with the deal set to be finalised by the end of the week. 

With mounting interest in the 23-year-old midfielder, Boro look like they have made the decision to cash in on one of their key players with two years left on his contract.

It’s understood the club have not been looking to sell their prize assets over the course of the summer but there has been an acceptance that they would accept an offer if the price was right. Much like the deal that saw Djed Spence head to Tottenham Hotspur for a financial package worth around £20 million, Boro have been hard negotiators and have accepted a high valuation offer Tavernier.

Tavernier’s impending move to the south coast comes as a huge blow to Boro on the eve of their opening game of the Championship season against West Brom on Saturday with the player at the forefront of Chris Wilder’s plans.

The manager has been determined to keep hold of one of his prized assets but conceded that every club has their price. He said: “As I said in a previous interview, Liverpool lost (Sadio) Mane. They weren’t expecting to lose Mane, but they did. I imagine Jurgen Klopp and the board would not have expected to have lost their best player, but their best player went and they had to replace him.

“You’ve just got to realise that this is football, and anybody can go at any time during the window.”

The midfielder’s impending exit brings the curtain down on a five year stint in the first-team where he made 155 appearances in all competitions for the club and scored 18 goals.