A FURIOUS Steve McClaren has accused "another club" of scuppering Middlesbrough's move for Rudolph Douala, but refused to call time on his attempts to sign the Sporting Lisbon star.

The Boro boss thought he had secured the versatile winger's signature more than a week ago, only for an unnamed party to also enter into negotiations at the same time.

That club, who are one of Boro's Premiership rivals, then dropped out of the bidding after deciding to switch their attentions elsewhere.

Newcastle are believed to be one of a number of top-flight clubs to have expressed an interest in Douala, although both manager Graeme Souness and chairman Freddy Shepherd have denied making a firm approach to Sporting.

Boro stepped up their attempts to sign the Cameroon international again earlier this week, with Sporting finally accepting the Teessiders' £5.5m bid.

But, in a final twist to the long-running saga, Douala then expressed his desire to remain in the Portuguese capital as a late substitute appearance in the qualifying round of the Champions League would prevent him representing Boro in this season's UEFA Cup.

McClaren has not given up hope of persuading the winger to perform yet another about-turn, but remains convinced he would already have been on Teesside had it not been for the disruptive influence of other potential suitors.

"It's the bad side of the business we're in," blasted the Boro boss. "It's a competitive market and people are free to get involved if they want to.

"But it's disappointing when all of the work is done by one club, only for the deal to be scuppered by the emergence of another club who think 'Oh Douala's available - we'll have a go at that'.

"A number of clubs have become involved in this, and a number of agents have also made comments. At times it's seemed like everybody's been getting involved and that doesn't help.

"We're getting close, but the bottom line is that it's now down to the player. All indications are that he wanted to come here, but you just don't know who to believe at the moment. We are trying to unscramble it."

Douala's future is not the only mystery currently causing consternation at the Riverside, as Boro are still no nearer knowing when they can play summer signing Emanuel Pogatetz.

The left-back, who played for Austria against Scotland on Wednesday night, is currently serving a 24-week ban after breaking Shinnik Yaroslavl midfielder Yaroslav Kharitonsky's leg while on loan at Spartak Moscow.

Sources in Russia suggest that punishment has been reduced to eight weeks on appeal - allowing Pogatetz to feature in next Tuesday's trip to Birmingham - but Boro are still awaiting confirmation from the Russian FA.

"We honestly do not know (what is happening)," said McClaren. "It has not been confirmed to us, it has not been confirmed to the English FA and until the Russians notify the English FA of exactly how long the suspension is, nobody knows.

"There are certain rumours going about, speculation that it might be this, that or the other, but really, we do not know until we get that piece of paper from the English FA.

"Frustration is not the word. It has gone beyond that. It was a relief for him (Pogatetz) to play for Austria, but we want him playing for Middlesbrough and the sooner, the better."

Sergei Dontsov, the head of the Russian FA's appeals committee, last night revealed he was ready to "forgive" Pogatetz, but Boro have already ruled him out of tomorrow's game at Tottenham.

With four other defenders also ruled out of the trip to White Hart Lane - Ugo Ehiogu, Chris Riggott, Stuart Parnaby and Tony McMahon - McClaren is ready to hand teenage centre-half Matthew Bates his first senior start.

The Boro boss is also running the rule over former Everton and Liverpool full-back Abel Xavier as he attempts to provide the defensive cover his side were occasionally lacking last season.

"We have got five defenders unavailable and we have a bit of a crisis there, especially in the right-back position," said McClaren. "And so Abel Xavier was mentioned to us. He is at Roma, at the present moment and there may be a chance he could go elsewhere. We have got him in for a couple of days and we may do something in the next couple of days."

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