Middlesbrough are being linked with a £4million swoop for Bayer Leverkusen's Switzerland international midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta.Barnetta, 23, was one of the Euro 2008 co-hosts' key men at this summer's tournament and has been a regular at Leverkusen since moving from St Gallen in 2004.

Boro boss Gareth Southgate has insisted new additions are imminent at the Riverside Stadium as his side gear up to the big Premier League kick-off on August 16, with a home game against Tottenham first on the agenda.

Speaking after Saturday's 3-2 friendly win at Hibernian, Southgate said: "I would think we'll strengthen the squad definitely, there are always options."

Boro came back from two goals down at Easter Road to beat Hibs courtesy of strikes from substitute Afonso Alves, David Wheater and Rhys Williams.

Southgate added: "It's pleasing that we had Afonso (Alves) and Jonno (Adam Johnson) on the bench because in lots of games last year, we didn't have impact substitutions to alter games, now we have and that's a great thing for us.

"Hibs gave us a really good test, it was a good workout for us. We've learned a lot from the game. We went into it not particularly sharp because we've pushed them this last week, that was their second game and we trained hard right through.

"So from a fitness angle I was pleased, some needed 90 minutes but we saw how much we still have to learn in terms of getting our shape right. We've come through it but there's a tremendous amount to work at.

"The way they played caused us a few problems in the first half, we were a bit stretched but got better in the second half, and we didn't stretch them enough in the first half, all our play was in front of them.

"I was a bit critical of them at half-time because I'm not sure our approach as a team was right but second half we got to grips with it, once Afonso and Jeremie (Aliadiere) started to stretch them and we took our goals well," he added in the Sunday Sun.

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