Middlesbrough coach Colin Cooper has assured fans transfer plans are well underway.

"Gareth (Southgate) and Keith (Lamb) are working very hard, just because it's the summer doesn't mean it's a break for them," Cooper told the Sunday Sun.

"Fabio (Rochemback) has gone and even though he hadn't been a part of the first team Mendy (Gaizka Mendieta) has gone and that has left us short in midfield, so that's an area we need to strengthen.

"The recruitment process is ongoing, outside of the Academy system that's a massive part of football now and where we can succeed or fail. We'll do our research and hope the names we come up with choose our club and not others.

"We're looking at an awful lot of players so that we can cherry-pick the ones we want and need. It has to be the right type of player, to just go out and fill positions is wrong.

"But obviously the right type of players are being chased by four or five clubs. So, unless you pluck someone out of thin air, it's always going to be a bit of a bun fight.

"It's a tough market place and players and their agents decide their fate these days. The clubs have less and less say but we are doing everything we can to get the right players in."