Boateng back on board for Boro
Middlesbrough skipper George Boateng is back in the fold after his bust-up with manager Gareth Southgate.
The 32-year-old Dutchman and his former team-mate found themselves at odds when the midfielder was left out of the squad for the New Year’s Day Barclays Premier league clash with Everton, sparking suggestions he could leave the Riverside Stadium this month.
However, Southgate has revealed any rift has been healed and Boateng was due to rejoin the first team squad after being left out of the party which travelled to Bristol City for Saturday’s FA Cup third-round victory.
The manager said: “George is back in the fold today and that’s the way we want it.
“As far as I am concerned, he is a Boro player. He is also an experienced player and part of our squad.
“He has been disappointed and I understand that, but we all have a job to do and we have to work together and move on.”
Boateng, appointed captain after Southgate’s elevation to the manager’s hotseat two summers ago, missed the 1-0 win at Portsmouth on December 29 through suspension.
However, he was devastated not to return for the Everton game and is understood to have made his feelings known.
His agent, Barry Silkman, later hinted the former Coventry player could leave Teesside, with several clubs monitoring his situation, but Southgate insisted on Friday that Boateng still had a role to play.
With Julio Arca and Lee Cattermole both suspended for Saturday’s Premier league clash with Liverpool, he could be handed a swift return to action.
Southgate said: “We had a fantastic result at Portsmouth and I wanted to try to keep the same team against Everton.
“George was disappointed with that and he was not in the right frame of mind to be involved at Bristol City.
“He is a bit emotional and we will have to see what the long-term future holds.
“We have a big game against Liverpool on Saturday and I want everybody possible available so that we can do everything we can to try to win the game.”
Boro were this afternoon handed an FA Cup fourth-round trip to Coca-Cola League Two strugglers Mansfield as their reward for victory at Ashton Gate.
In the meantime, Southgate will assess the transfer market.
He has been repeatedly linked with Heerenveen striker Afonso Alves, while Paris St Germain goalkeeper Jerome Alonzo has touted himself as a possible replacement for Mark Schwarzer, who is out of contract at the end of the season with further talks over his future expected this month.
However, Southgate revealed there is nothing imminent in the pipeline.
He said: “There is nothing that will happen in the immediate future. We are monitoring certain situations, but it is that time of year when the phone is ringing constantly.
“You get offered so many different players – sometimes I am embarrassed by my lack of world football knowledge because a lot of the names I do not know.
“Perhaps everybody else is different, but it is a minefield, really, trying to pick your way through it and pick out the ones who are of interest and would improve us is very, very difficult.”
Indeed, the former England defender is no fan of the transfer window system and the pressures it imposes on clubs.
He said: “It is very restrictive for everybody, it is very difficult for everybody to have to do their business at this one time.
“It means prices get inflated and it would be easy to panic and do business for the sake of it.
“I did not see anything wrong with the old system – but I suppose the one thing it does is that, once January has gone, you know the squad of players you have and you have got to work with them.”
