Middlesbrough Football Club have given up their pursuit of Ben Watson.

The Riverside Stadium club had an offer in the region of £2million accepted for the Crystal Palace midfielder on Friday, and the 22-year-old was expected to agree terms.

However, a number of rival club were alerted to Watson’s availability, and reports now suggest Gareth Southgate will miss out on the player to Wigan Athletic.

"We think he is joining Wigan,” admitted the Boro boss.

“We are disappointed because we have done a lot of work over a couple of months towards that but that's the way it goes sometimes, sometimes you don't get it.

“Several factors came into a player's mind and our league position may come into it. He's a good kid and we would have liked to have signed him but we move on."