MIDDLESBROUGH are working with Fulham to try to engineer an exit strategy for Rodrigo Muniz in the final two days of the transfer window.

Senior Boro officials have held ongoing discussions with their counterparts at Craven Cottage to try to pave the way for an early curtailment of Muniz’s loan deal on Teesside.

The Brazilian signed a season-long loan when he joined Boro in the summer, and as things stand, the Teessiders are committed to honouring the loan agreement, which sees them paying a proportion of the striker’s weekly wages.

However, Muniz has been frozen out of the first-team picture under Michael Carrick, and ideally, the Boro head coach would like to send the South American back to his permanent employers.

Muniz did not feature in the matchday squad for Saturday’s 2-0 win over Watford, with his most recent start having come in October’s 2-1 win over Preston.

The recent arrival of Cameron Archer has relegated him even further down the pecking order, with Boro also boasting Matt Crooks, Marcus Forss, Chuba Akpom, Matthew Hoppe and Duncan Watmore as attacking options.

Fulham are aware of the situation, and do not really want Muniz kicking his heels in Boro’s reserve ranks for the remainder of the season.

However, Cottagers boss Marco Silva does not want to restore the 21-year-old to his own first-team squad for the final four months of the campaign.

Ideally, Fulham would like to send Muniz back out on loan to another club in the Championship as they have not given up on him and continue to regard him as an important long-term investment.

However, while there has been some interest from clubs in the second tier, there has not been a formal offer from any of Boro’s rivals at this stage.

There have been formal approaches from abroad, but Fulham are not especially keen on Muniz heading overseas for the next four months.

Brazilian club Gremio held discussions at the start of the year, but were effectively told that Fulham will not be sending Muniz back to South America just a year-and-a-half after he was signed from Flamengo.

Tentative discussions have taken place with a couple of European clubs, and there is a chance they could be pursued further ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.