SUNDERLAND and Middlesbrough are set to go head-to-head in an £8m battle for Aston Villa defender Ugo Ehiogu.

The one-cap England centre-back vowed to fight on at Villa Park following a summer of uncertainty over his future.

But after being dumped on the substitutes' bench again for Sunday's home game against Chelsea, he is growing increasingly disillusioned with life under manager John Gregory - and Sunderland and Boro are ready to offer him an escape route.

Manchester City boss Joe Royle dropped out of the hunt for Ehiogu just over a week before the start of the Premiership season when he had a £7.5m bid rejected, and instead signed Steve Howey from Newcastle United in a £2m deal.

The way looked to be clear for Sunderland and Boro to move in when Villa settled a dispute with Ehiogu's former club West Brom over a sell-on clause which entitled them to 50 per cent of any transfer fee.

The Baggies agreed to accept only £1m.

But Ehiogu then sprang a surprise when he decided he wanted to see out the remainder of his contract with Villa.

His agent, Steve Kutner, said he had signed a new insurance policy to cover Ehiogu against injury in the final two years of his Villa deal.

Now the picture has changed again and Sunderland boss Peter Reid and Boro counterpart Bryan Robson are ready to lock horns over the 27-year-old stopper.

Reid's need for defensive cover is urgent, with Slovakian defender Stanislav Varga, a £650,000 close-season signing from Slovan Bratislava, having undergone a double leg operation and expected to be out for around six weeks.

Fellow central defender Steve Bould, still short of match fitness after an injury-hit summer, clearly isn't ready yet and wasn't considered for a place on the bench at Ipswich last Saturday.

Reid, who has already failed with a £5m approach for Ehiogu, confessed: "I'm always looking to strengthen the squad and I know what's needed.

"We've kept three clean sheets in 24 games and figures like that speak for themselves."

But Robson is also eager to strengthen his defence, which was pulled apart in embarrassing fashion by Leeds United's young guns in the first half of Boro's 2-1 defeat at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Jody Craddock, who returned alongside Paul Butler in Sunderland's 1-0 defeat at Portman Road, is once again a target for Portsmouth.

The First Division side were put off by Sunderland's £1.8m price tag on Craddock but are ready to try again.

However, in the current situation Reid is unlikely to part with any of his senior defenders.

l Liverpool confirmed last night that Christian Ziege has finally been registered as their player.

The long-running saga concerning Ziege's release by Middlesbrough, despite the fact that he signed a contract with Liverpool at the weekend, has at last come to a conclusion.

A Liverpool spokesman said: ''We can confirm that Christian Ziege is now a Liverpool player.''

Ziege last week won a High Court action against Middlesbrough, who had been blocking his £5.5m move to Anfield.

Ziege had a release clause in his contract that he could talk to any club who met the £5m price - and this clause was upheld by the court.

Boro have bitterly contested the move for almost two months, and have asked the FA to look into the details of the move, and Liverpool's involvement.

The Riverside club are particularly angry that the Anfield club were aware of the contents of Ziege's contract.

But the German defender's departure from Boro was confirmed tonight when Liverpool received notification from the FA and the Premier League that the player was registered with them.

Ziege will now join his fellow German internationals at Anfield, Markus Babbel and Dietmar Hamann, and comes into contention for his debut against Aston Villa on Tuesday, September 6.

However, he may be considered short of match practice.

He has remained in Germany since the summer and trained with a local club, having played just one match for his country this month since he was part of the German side that lost to England on June 17