Boro in talks with Grant Leadbitter

Boro in talks with Grant Leadbitter

Grant Leadbitter’s agent has confirmed that the out of contact midfielder is in talks with Middlesbrough over a move to the club.

Those over at free-bet-finder.com/uk/betting/paypal-betting note how after not renewing his contract with Ipswich Town, Leadbitter is available on a free transfer and Boro boss Tony Mowbray is keen to make him one of the first signings of what should be a busy summer.

The former Sunderland man is reportedly keen to move back to the North East and ideally to a club that will be challenging for promotion. Therefore, Middlesbrough fits the bill.

Leadbitter’s agent said: “I don’t think that [the location] will have a bearing at all. It will be a purely footballing decision.

“Middlesbrough are an attractive club for a player. They are a great club and Tony Mowbray is a top guy. He wants to play football the right way.”

“There are quite a few clubs who are interested in Grant. He’s got good experience and he’s a very good player.”

“I think Grant’s quite relaxed about the situation. He’s currently on holiday and he’s getting married this summer so he wants to make sure he makes the right decision for the long-term.

“I don’t think, however, he’ll want it dragging on too long.”

Pundits at www.free-bet-finder.com/ note how it would be beneficial for Middlesbrough to tie up the deal quickly too. The sooner a squad is in place the better. Mowbray won’t want drastic changes either. He will want a couple of additions to a team that were in the promotion hunt for the majority of the season.

In other Middlesbrough related news, Mowbray has spoken of the far from ideal situation that sees Rhys Williams away on international duty with Australia for three months this summer.

The Boro boss said: “It's not ideal. Rhys has a long-term problem that we've been carefully managing for a good while.

"That said, these games are World Cup qualifiers, not meaningless friendlies, so there is something at stake for Australia.

They'll be aiming to qualify for the next World Cup in 2014 and I'm sure Rhys will be keen to represent his country in that tournament so we can't stand in his way.

"It's also the price you pay for having good players, I guess you can't have it both ways.

"Rhys will have been keeping himself fit since the end of the season in readiness for the Australia games and will be away for the best part of a month.

So we won't have had much of a break. With that in mind we'll give him an extra week or so to recharge his batteries and he'll come back after the other players.

More Boro news...

Welcome to oneBoro

Welcome to oneBoro, bringing you the latest Boro news, transfers, team news, fixtures and results from Middlesbrough FC.

The Boro blog delivers opinion, discussion, views and news from MFC.

Check out the oneBoro Forum to join in the debate with over 975,000 posts and growing!