JULIO ARCA would welcome a renewed attempt to land Reading midfielder James Harper after Middlesbrough accepted an offer for Lee Cattermole.

Boro have reached an agreement with Wigan over a fee, believed to be in the region of £3.5m, for Cattermole and he is expected to undergo a medical before the start of next week.

If there are no further hitches to the deal, Southgate is likely to use the cash raised from the sale by making an offer for Harper.

The 27-year-old has privately indicated a willingness to uproot to Teesside, despite interest from Bolton, and his arrival would maintain the number of options open to Southgate in central midfield.

Following the departures of George Boateng and Fabio Rochemback, only Arca could offer Southgate plenty of Premier League experience in midfield against Celtic on Tuesday night.

Foreign recruits Mohamed Shawky and Didier Digard were also involved, while teenagers John Johnson and Josh Walker offered an insight of what the future holds.

While happy with the quality of the youngsters in the squad, Arca feels that bringing in another midfielder with a few more years experience would be beneficial to the squad.

“I’m 27 and Luke Young is 28, we are the oldest in the team right now,” said Arca.

“That shows you how young the team is. We are trying to help the young players. The manager maybe is looking to bring a couple more experienced players in, we will see.

“James Harper has been mentioned and, although he is relatively young, like myself, he has plenty experience.

We do have plenty midfielders, we have options and hopefully everyone will stay fit and we can start well, but there could still be another new face or two to come.”

Reading are holding out for £5m from potential buyers, given how they have to pay a third of any fee to his former club Arsenal.

Middlesbrough have only been willing to offer £3.5m, but that could change after their valuation of Cattermole was met by Wigan, and Southgate admitted his move was close.

The 20-year-old, likely to complete things early next week, was left out of the squad that drew with Celtic in the Estadio Algarve on Tuesday night, where he watched the whole match from the dug-out with injured teammate Stewart Downing.

“We have had a revised offer,” said Southgate before a club statement was issued last night.

The statement read: “A fee has been agreed with Wigan Athletic for the transfer of Lee Cattermole. The 20-yearold midfielder has been given permission to talk to Wigan, discuss personal terms and have a medical.”

In Cattermole’s absence, Middlesbrough were unlucky not to overcome Scottish champions Celtic in the Algarve.

Only goalkeeper Ross Turnbull and midfielder Walker were handed more than 45 minutes against the Bhoys and, after being introduced at half-time, Jeremie Aliadiere put Boro ahead.

Celtic looked incapable of pulling level until Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink bundled the ball over the line from a corner to level matters in the final minute.

Southgate, who handed Dutch forward Marvin Emnes his first outing, said: “It was good for all of the young lads to get action against a Champions League team.”

MIDDLESBROUGH (4-3-3): (first half) Turnbull; Young, Wheater, Pogatetz, Grounds; Walker (Tuncay 77), Arca, Shawky; Emnes, Alves, Owens. (Second half) Turnbull; McMahon, Huth, Williams, Taylor; Walker, O’Neil, J Johnson, Digard, A Johnson; Aliadiere. Subs (not used): Steele.

CELTIC (4-4-2): M Brown; Hinkel (Naylor 61), Caldwell (Balde 61), McManus (O’Dea 61), Wilson; Robson (Donati 68), S Brown (Caddis 68), Hartley, McGeady; Mc- Donald (Vennegoor 67) , Samaras (Mc- Gowan 72). Subs (not used): Boruc.