Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate admits he's anxious about extending Adam Johnson's contract.

The England U21 winger's deal expires in June and he is free to sign a pre-contract with a rival from January 1.

Southgate told the Evening Gazette: "We've continued to hold weekly discussions on it, Adam knows what we think of him, he knows how much we want him to be here.

"At the moment we're not able to secure that but he's playing very, very well so it's not affecting anything that he's doing.

"The most important thing for us at the moment is to win football matches and he's helping us to do that.

"Yes, there's an issue we'd like resolved but we've dealt with lots of outstanding issues since May and slowly but surely we're getting these things resolved."