Hoyte eyes England honours

New Boro signing has international dream

Last updated: 18th August 2008

Justin Hoyte Middlesbrough

Hoyte: Greets Boro fans

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Justin Hoyte hopes his move to Middlesbrough can help his international ambitions.

The 23-year-old right-back finalised his £3million move from Arsenal over the weekend.

Now Hoyte, who spent a successful year on loan at Sunderland earlier in his career, is hopeful his return to the North East will push him into the England reckoning.

"Everyone wants to play for their country and if I perform well I want to move on to the England stage," he said.

"As soon as I knew that Middlesbrough were interested it was a case of coming down, having a look and talking to the manager.

"Everything I was told was what I wanted to hear.

"It was still very strange traveling to a Champions League qualifier and being on the bench for that game and the next day going to training and finding out I was coming to Boro.

"But it's an opportunity to get regular football after not playing as many games as I wanted to at Arsenal. It's a chance to go out and show I can play and hopefully play every week and keep my consistency."

Southgate happy

Meanwhile, manager Gareth Southgate insists he is more than happy with his squad and he has not upped his bid for Reading's James Harper.

Southgate and sources at Boro were quoted about Harper over the weekend, but he says he is happy with his players at the moment.

"We've got a small squad but we believe it's a good one, and I want to keep everybody involved this season," said Southgate.

"I was delighted with the attitude and the character we showed for the Spurs game and I want to have a look at a couple of games before making a final decision.

"I'm pleased to have added Justin Hoyte to the squad, but we have no more bids in at the moment and it may stay that way.

"It may leave us a little bit short, but then we have players who have proved they can play in a number of positions. Villa only had a small squad last season and they finished above us in the table.

"I like the idea of everybody having a chance of playing. On the other hand I do not want to leave us exposed, so it's a situation that needs a lot of thought."