Middlesbrough FC news: Aston Villa boss reveals Albert Admoah's future, Tony Pulis on side's weakness plus loan update

The 30-year-old winger, who played for Boro between 2013 and 2016, was linked with a return to the Riverside in the summer, when Steve Bruce was still the manager at Villa Park.

But Smith, who was appointed at Villa Park in October, has been impressed with Adomah and is keen to keep the Ghanaian international.

“I have no thoughts for Albert in January," said Smith following Villa's 3-0 victory over Boro at the Riverside on Saturday.

“He is an Aston Villa player and I am enjoying working with him. He is one of the nicest fellows I have worked with and he showed some quality last Sunday against Birmingham City before being unfortunately brought down.

“He has been a great lad since I have been here and put in consistent performances. With him coming back, along with the likes of (Anwar) El Ghazi and (Jonathan) Kodjia, we have some real firepower."

Boro boss Tony Pulis also missed out on Everton winger Yannick Bolasie in the summer, who opted to join Villa on a season-long loan.

Bolasie produced an impressive display at the Riverside, while Boro's lack of width was once again exposed against a promotion rival.

After the game Pulis was asked if it was frustrating to see a former target performing well against his side.

“Not at all,” replied the Boro boss. “He’s made his decision, this is a good football club, what we’ve got to do is make sure we move on.

“We know what we want, we’ve been talking about it all the way through,” added Pulis, referring to his January targets.

“If you look at the Villa team and the pace and the power on the turnover and the quality and experience they’ve got, we want a little bit of that. That’s what the team needs.

“And now we’ll do our damn hardest to try and do it. What we’ve got to do is make sure these players believe in what they’ve done – and they’ve done fantastically well – over the next six weeks."

Elsewhere Boro goalkeeper Connor Ripley helped Accrington Stanley reach the third round of the FA Cup.

The 25-year-old shot stopper is on loan at Accrington, who overcame Chesterfield 3-1 at the Wham Stadium.

Bradford will also be in the hat for the third round draw after the Bantams came from two goals down to earn a replay away at Peterborough.

Boro striker George Miller, who is on loan with the Bantams, came off the bench when his side were 2-0 down.