Aitor Karanka’s Riverside revolution continues apace with Middlesbrough close to making their sixth summer signing in Antonio Barragán, the Valencia full-back who will cost £3m.
Barragán has agreed personal terms and his Valencia team-mate Álvaro Negredo is also on the point of joining him at the promoted Premier League club on a year-long loan with a view to the striker completing a £9m transfer next summer.
Previously with Manchester City, Negredo, who cost Valencia £24m and earns around £100,000 a week, struggled in Spain last season but Karanka believes he can reignite his career at Boro where he will join fellow arrivals Victor Valdés, Viktor Fischer, Bernardo Espinosa, Marten de Roon and Jordan McGhee.
The contingent of recruits is likely to increase providing Karanka can secure work permits for Borussia Dortmund’s centre-half Neven Subotic and the Uruguay attacking midfielder Gastón Ramírez.
Ramírez, who spent the second half of last season on loan at the Riverside, is keen to rejoin Karanka while Subotic’s signing – for a sum which could rise to £10m – is seen as a real coup. Neither player has enough recent international caps to meet requirements but the Premier League are supporting Boro’s applications on the grounds of the pair’s exceptional talent.
