MIDDLESBROUGH are closing in on their second signing of the January transfer window, having won the race for Aston Villa left-back Finley Munroe.
Boro have agreed a £300,000 fee with Villa, who yesterday recalled the 20-year-old from Swindon Town, where he impressed in the first half of the season.
The deal will include a sell-on for Villa, as was the case with the Leo Castledine signing last week.
The signing is unrelated to the uncertainty surrounding the future of Matt Targett, with Newcastle still weighing up whether to recall the 30-year-old from his loan spell at the Riverside. Targett is happy at Boro and wants to see out his loan spell on Teesside.
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But after Alex Bangura suffered an injury against Southampton that will rule him out for at least the rest of January and with Lukas Engel's future still unclear, Boro were in the market to sign a left-back this month.
Munroe has starred in League Two for promotion chasing Swindon, scoring twice and registering seven assists in 23 appearances in the first half of the season.
Swindon boss Ian Holloway confirmed he had looked into the possibility of striking a permanent deal for Munroe, but quickly accepted defeat when he learnt of interest higher up the EFL ladder.
Bristol City also made a move for Munroe earlier this week, but the left-back indicated Boro was his preference.
Because of his age, Munroe - like Castledine - wouldn't need to be registered in Boro's 25-man EFL squad.
Munroe started out in Chelsea's academy but joined Villa after being released when he was 16.
He's played twice for Villa's first team and had a spell out on loan last season at Real Union in Spain.
Swindon boss Holloway says Munroe is one of the best young players he's ever worked with and thinks Villa are making a mistake by letting him go.
He said this week: "First off, I think, Aston Villa are wrong, because they're not taking him. That's why this has all happened. They're not giving him a new deal.
"I would strongly shout to everybody that I don't think I've had as good a full-back potentially in my lifetime, wherever I've been, maybe Seamus Coleman borrowing him on loan.
"Maybe he was potentially, and I think Finn's in the same bracket, in my opinion.
"So how is that going to affect me? Someone's got to take him by this Friday [when the recall clause ends]. And if that happens, then someone might take him and might loan him back to us, but I don't know."
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