MARTIN Payero appears to be on his way out of Middlesbrough with Boca Juniors lining up a deal to bring him back to Argentina.

The 23-year-old is not with the Boro squad on their pre-season tour of Portugal and is yet to feature for them in pre-season.

Payero’s former club Banfield has expressed a desire to bring him back this summer but have conceded defeat due to the timing of the English transfer market and their immediate need for players. However, Boca Juniors now appearing to be winning the race to take the midfielder back to South America. The suggestions are that a loan move with an option to buy next summer has been discussed.

The midfielder has found life difficult in England making just 15 appearances during an injury hit first season. After completing a switch for a fee understood to be around £4 million, Payero was awarded the number ten shirt adding to the excitement surrounding his arrival.

His first start came in a 1-0 defeat to Reading at the end of September but Payero began to settle into the side. He started the next five games with his first goal for the club coming during a 2-0 win over Cardiff City. Neil Warnock, who had slowly integrated him into the team, was relieved of his managerial duties at the beginning of November.

However, concerns remained over his ability to adapt to the physicality of the English game remained and Chris Wilder’s takeover of the dugout saw Payero’s game time vastly reduced. The Argentine failed to make a league start under the Boro boss for the remainder of the season.

Payero’s fitness issues persisted with a succession of injuries throughout the season. He was stretchered off with an ankle injury he picked up against Queens Park Rangers at the back end of February which effectively ended the campaign as he would make one further substitute appearance against Swansea City.

In the early parts of pre-season, Wilder issued a challenge to a number of players where he described ‘throwing a bomb’ under them to convince him they should stay at the club on merit. Payero is understood to be one of these players alongside full-back Marc Bola, who is also not on the club’s pre-season tour of Portugal.

Last month, Payero said he had received no official contact from any club in Argentina over a potential move and that he was prepared to stay in Europe next season and fight for his place in the team.

However, Boca Juniors, who are currently supplanted in mid-table of the Argentine Primera Division, appear to have struck a deal to bring the out of favour midfielder back to his homeland.

With another two years to run on Payero’s contract, Boro are willing to let the midfielder go if they can recoup the sum shelled out for him last season before next summer.

Meanwhile, reports from Brazilian media outlet O Dia suggest Middlesbrough have an interest in bringing Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz to the Riverside Stadium this summer.

Boro failed in a bid to sign the Brazilian striker last summer who chose to go to Craven Cottage over them. However, Muniz had limited game time for the Championship winners due to the form of Aleksander Mitrovic who scored over 40 goals last season.

With Fulham investing heavily in their team following promotion to the Premier League, Muniz, who only made two starts out of 25 league appearances, is likely to be offloaded this summer.

Eagle eyed Boro fans have seen Muniz like social media posts from the club’s official account garnering speculation he could be on his way to Teesside.

Wilder has made no secret of his desire to bring strikers to the club this summer with the club also interested in French striker Thomas Henry.