Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has revealed key midfielder Gary O'Neil has committed himself to the club to end months of speculation over his future.

O'Neil, 25, was unsettled on Teesside in the second half of last season following his £5million summer switch from Portsmouth, and Southgate admitted he faced a fight to keep him at the club.

However, following the player's return to the north-east, the two men sat down together and Southgate received the news which he had been hoping for.

The manager said: "I am delighted. He has come back a lot more settled and he is determined to try to give it a go.

"He feels after the second half of last season, he owes us a little bit, and it is fantastic to know that.

"I am delighted. He was superb up to Christmas for us and then because he was unsettled and doing a lot of travelling, that affected his performances.

"But I am thrilled that he has come back and wants to play a big part with us because we know the quality of his play."

The news could hardly have been better timed for Southgate as he presented 21-year-old French midfielder Didier Digard and 20-year-old Dutch strike Marvin Emnes to the media on Wednesday.

Boro have paid around £7.2million for the Paris St Germain player and his Sparta Rotterdam counterpart, who have both signed four-year contracts.

The double swoop is a reflection of the club's decision to recruit up-and-coming talent to complement their home-produced stars of the future as they attempt to strengthen their squad on a budget.

Southgate said: "As a club, we have had a philosophy in the past of signing some world-famous players and we have had great success doing that.

"But we just feel that the situation the club is in now and the way we want to proceed for the long-term, we want to encourage our own young talent, but also recruit young talent.

"We realise that although we have had fantastic success with our academy, we have got to look around Europe and around the world to do that.

"We are signing two young players who come with a degree of first-team experience, international youth experience and a hunger and a desire to come and play for this football club and develop with us.

"We are very excited. We have been pleased to do the deals before the start of pre-season and get the boys with us for the start of training so they can get used to the culture of the club.

"We are excited about bringing them to the club not just for the immediate, but for the long-term as well."

Digard, who was suspended by PSG last week after venting his frustration at the delay in his move, was delighted to have arrived in England after an injury-interrupted year in Paris.

He said: "I had a tough year at Paris St Germain, but I don't regret anything that happened.

"The most important thing for me is to concentrate on the task I have to do here and go all the way.

"I have always wanted to follow in the footsteps of players such as Patrick Vieira and Claude Makelele.

"If I really give 100 per cent of myself, I will be able to follow their style of play and also improve myself as a player."

For Emnes, the challenge of the Premier League proved too tempting to resist.

He said: "This is a beautiful club. I was told they have a good future for young players - they build on the future.

"They give the youth a lot of chances to play, which gives me a chance to get more experience.

"The chance to play in the Premier League is not a chance you encounter every day, so this was a chance I just needed to take."

Meanwhile, Southgate confirmed that the club has agreed a fee - believed to be in the region of £1million - with Hull for former skipper George Boateng, although the Dutchman is yet to agree personal terms and trained on Teesside on Wednesday.

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