Adam Johnson admits he and Stewart Downing are unlikely to play in the same Middlesbrough team.

Both are being targeted by Premiership rivals and Johnson told the Hartlepool Mail: "It is nice to hear about teams being after you and wanting to buy you but at the end of the day I am still a Boro player.

"I am coming up to 21 now and you can never rule anything out, especially with both me and Stewart Downing at the same club. At some point in our careers, we won't be able to be here together because we are rivals for the same position.

"I think at some point the manager will have to make a decision because I don't think he can keep both of us. I have got some big decisions to make. Probably not in this transfer window but maybe in the summer.

"But Gareth has said he doesn't want me to go anywhere and until someone tells me otherwise I am just going to get on with it."