Middlesbrough FC

The Daily Mail

Reading midfielder James Harper is poised to join Middlesbrough for £5million this week after Boro boss Gareth Southgate missed out on Crystal Palace’s Ben Watson. Middlesbrough also face competition from Fulham for Harper, who has spent seven years at Reading, but Southgate is hopeful he can convince him to move north after Watson rejected Boro terms and joined Wigan.

Southgate is reportedly back in the hunt for Harper. Seriously, if Harper wanted to join us he would have done so in the summer. I'm not sure if he was holding out last summer for a bigger club than Middlesbrough to come along. Now it seems because no other interested parties are involved, Harper will sign for Boro. I would say this is just pure paper talk. £5million is a lot of money for Harper.

Come On Boro