The Yorkshireman is away on holiday with his family in Spain after briefly returning to Boro from his World Cup exertions, and there were few indications that anything was in the offing as he headed off.

Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale moved to scotch reports that the club have secured the services of McClaren.

Ridsdale confirmed that Leeds had identified their target but had not approached the Boro boss.

‘‘I can say unequivocally I have had no contact whatsoever with Steve McClaren,’’ said the Leeds chairman, who revealed they expected to announce the new manager by Thursday.

‘‘Reports that I have are unfair on Middlesbrough and Leeds United.

‘‘We have identified who we want to bring in and I would be very surprised if we don’t have him in place within the two-week time frame we were working towards when David O’Leary was sacked,’’ he told Sky Sports News.

McClaren’s agent Colin Gordon was adamant that there had been no contact with Leeds, but went little further.

‘‘There has been no contact between Leeds and Steven,’’ he said. ‘‘Steven hasn’t spoken to Leeds.

‘‘He’s on holiday with his family at the moment having a well-earned break.’’

And Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb also insisted no talks had taken place.

He told BBC Sport Online: ‘‘As Steve said to me, it is business as usual.

‘‘We’ve just signed two players and are preparing to sign two more.

‘‘This is just pure speculation. We have had no approach from Leeds United and neither has Steve McLaren.’’

Leeds United Supporters’ Club chairman Ray Fell was also quick to play down reports of McClaren’s supposed imminent arrival at Elland Road.

‘‘The board have been meeting over the last week but I don’t believe anyone has been approached,’’ he said.

‘‘At one stage we were led to believe by media speculation that Martin O’Neill was already in our pocket but I am convinced so far there has been no public move.

‘‘I wonder if there is a grey area with the applications and there might be someone we have not yet mentioned.

‘‘Just let us get it right.’’

McClaren’s pedigree means that he will inevitably be linked with high profile jobs despite his relative lack of experience as a manager.

He arrived at Boro last June having served as number two to both Jim Smith at Derby and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United with a proven track record as a coach.

However, after a tough start to his management career - Boro lost their first four games under his guidance - he rallied to lead them through a satisfactory campaign in which they finished 12th in the Premiership and were unfortunate to go down by the only goal in their FA Cup semi-final clash with Arsenal.

The Teessiders are understandably keen to hang on to a man who arrived with a five-year plan and has managed to pull off the first phase of his blueprint.

It is understood that McClaren, having engineered significant reductions in both the club’s wage bill and age profile, has been disappointed with the club’s transfer activity to date.

Boro broke their club record transfer fee last week when they paid Empoli £8.15million for striker Massimo Maccarone, who is due to be unveiled at a press conference tomorrow afternoon.

But that so far represents the only addition to the player list since Franck Queudrue made his loan move permanent, and there is a growing suspicion that there is more than meets the eye to the Teessiders’ proposed swoop for Brazilian World Cup winner Juninho.

The Atletico Madrid player is a favourite of chairman Steve Gibson and is not thought to have been on the summer shopping list McClaren drew up before heading for the Far East.

Former boss Bryan Robson was less than keen to have the 29-year-old back on loan two seasons ago and decided not to take up an option to buy him afterwards, although he remains hugely popular with the fans and if the evidence of his displays at the World Cup is anything to go by, has regained much of the form he showed during his first spell in England.

The cynics will suggest that Boro’s latest bid to bring him back to the Premiership may be designed to off-set the disappointment of losing one of the domestic game’s up and coming managers, but the fans may have to wait until McClaren returns from holiday next Monday to learn his fate.