BORO PULL PLUG ON SUTTON

Boro, along with Celtic, had matched Chelsea`s £6 million valutaion of Sutton, but the 27-year-old was stalling over his decision, and Tessiders chairman Steve Gibson confirmed that they had pulled out.

"Chris Sutton won't be coming here." said Gibson, at a press conference which revealed the signing of Christian Karembeu and Paul Okon. "Chris has asked for a week to 10 days to reach his decision, but we have to move on.

"We have other options. We respect that he needs the time, but it doesn't fit into our time frame and we have to move on, but that's football."

Gibson also confirmed that Boro`s spending may not have stopped for the summer, saying: "We know that we have to strengthen the squad and it's another sign of our ambition.

"We are making quite clear that the important thing for this football club is to win a first trophy.

"All of our signings are major, otherwise we wouldn't be making them. But we think that the three players that we are presently negotiating with - and that doesn't include Chris Sutton - will improve our profile a bit further."