STEVE McCLAREN has admitted for the first time that Middlesbrough couldn't afford to sign Kevin Phillips from Sunderland for a knockdown £3m fee.

Phillips, who joined Southampton just days before the start of the Premiership season, last week confessed he would have jumped at the chance to move to the Riverside.

The former England striker, reluctant to uproot his family from their County Durham home, hoped Boro would firm up initial interest.

But McClaren, with limited room for manoeuvre in the transfer market because of financial constraints, prioritised midfield for urgent strengthening.

Even then, Gaizka Mendieta and Bolo Zenden arrived on season-long loan deals from Lazio and Chelsea, as did Leeds right-back Danny Mills.

With club record £8.15m signing Massimo Maccarone on the long-term injured list, and Michael Ricketts and Malcolm Christie struggling to reach full fitness, Boro have mustered only four goals from their opening five games this season, picking up one pitiful point in the process.

McClaren's men are second bottom, but only thanks to a better goal difference to newly-promoted Wolves, and talk on Teesside is already turning towards a relegation fight.

Some Boro fans believe McClaren should have done more to land a proven goalscorer like Phillips, particularly in light of his apparent willingness to sign.

But the Boro manager stressed: "It was beyond our financial restraints and it couldn't be done.''

McClaren's net spending in a little over two years in charge stands at around £28m.

But chairman Steve Gibson underlined his determination to keep a tighter rein on the purse strings and not spend over the odds, when he last week launched an attack on agents who he alleged demanded £700,000 just to facilitate talks between Boro and Fulham midfielder Sean Davis - a claim vehemently denied by the middlemen concerned, Proactive Sports Management.

McClaren's only cash capture this summer was Manchester City goalkeeper Carlo Nash for a "nominal'' fee, while Brazilian midfielder Doriva and left-back Alan Wright were signed on free transfers.

The last major incoming deal which involved a fee was the January signing of Ricketts from Bolton for £2.5m, minutes before the transfer window closed.

On the same day, McClaren also recruited Christie and defender Chris Riggott from Derby in a combined deal ultimately worth £3m.

In Maccarone, Ricketts, Christie Szilard Nemeth and Joseph-Desire Job, McClaren already had five frontmen before Phillips announced he was leaving relegated Sunderland at the end of last season.

The evidence suggests that McClaren would only have been able to move for Phillips had he offloaded either Nemeth or Job.

But McClaren, who saw a string of midfield targets escape him this summer, insists he is in harmony with Gibson over the club's transfer policy.

"We agreed we wouldn't pay inflated fees and we've stuck with that for two years,'' said McClaren. "We won't be held to ransom with inflated fees from clubs, players or agents. I have every admiration for the chairman in taking that stance.

"If we miss out on certain players because of that, so be it.''

* Boro midfielder Mark Wilson has joined Third Division Swansea on a month's loan.

Wilson, signed from Manchester United for £1.5m two years ago, played for the Swans in Saturday's 2-2 draw with home-town club Scunthorpe at Glanford Park, and gave away a third-minute penalty.

But manager Bryan Flynn, who also had Wilson under his wing when he was loaned to Wrexham from Man. United, is keen to take a fresh look at the England Under-21 international.

Wilson, 24, had a loan spell with First Division Stoke last season.

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