Championship transfer news. (Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)Championship transfer news. (Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
Championship transfer news. (Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

Ex-Middlesbrough boss slams club's '£55m' spending spree, ex-Birmingham City man joins League One side

Middlesbrough will be looking to move closer to the play-off places by picking up another three points this evening, when they travel to take on Coventry City at their temporary home of St. Andrew's.

As things stand, Middlesbrough are ninth in the table after 33 games, but are just five points off a top-six finish as we move closer to the business end of the season.

Speaking ahead of the game, Boro boss Neil Warnock moved to clarify a comment suggesting the recruitment team hadn't seen summer signing Chuba Akpom live in action before signing him.

He revealed: "I think it was taken out of context a bit. We just hadn’t seen him live when he was top of the recruitment list. We agreed that he looked the best bet, but we weren’t able to see him live.

“I just meant that we need to watch players live before we sign them really, and we should be able to do that between now and the end of the summer.

“It wasn’t intended to be a slur on Chuba, it was just an issue that we couldn’t see him live before we bought him.”

Here are today's biggest transfer stories and the latest team news involving Middlesbrough and the rest of the Championship, ahead of the midweek action: