MIDDLESBROUGH face a battle to land prime target Yakubu Ayegbeni after Portsmouth moved closer to tying up a £3m deal for the Nigeria striker.

Pompey boss Harry Redknapp is desperate to fend off Boro's interest, which was prompted by Yakubu's four-goal haul against them in their 5-1 defeat at Fratton Park on the final day of the Premiership season.

Chief executive Keith Lamb yesterday confirmed that Yakubu figures prominently on Boro's wanted list.

But Pompey counterpart Peter Storrie has spent two days in Israel this week in an attempt to reach agreement over Yakubu with Maccabi Haifa, who sold him to the South Coast club for £400,000 last summer.

Maccabi are entitled to 50 per cent of any future transfer fee under the terms of the deal and it is understood the clubs have agreed on a £6m valuation of Yakubu.

Pompey, therefore, will have to pay £3m to secure a deal and that won't present a problem to Redknapp, who said: "We really want to keep Yakubu if we can.

"Where do you find someone to get you 19 goals in a season?

"He hit a real hot streak at the tail-end of the season, doing what we all hoped he could in the Premier League.

"He could have scored 40 goals if he had been finishing like that all season.

"But if he scored another 19 next season we'd be more than happy with that."

Yakubu, who has already intimated that he is willing to stay with Pompey, scored 16 Premiership goals including 11 in his last ten appearances.

l Boro fans with Red and White books have until 5pm today to retain their current status and all supporters have until the same deadline to take advantage of season ticket savings.