JULIO Arca will fly to Germany with the rest of the Middlesbrough squad tomorrow intent on seeing out the final year of his contract at the Riverside.

Arca entered the final 12 months of his current deal at the end of June, and having dropped the Argentinian for three of the final eight games of last season, it has been suggested that Gordon Strachan could look to cash in before the transfer window closes at the end of August.

That now looks unlikely, with Arca’s versatility making him a valuable asset given the size of the present Middlesbrough squad.

The 29-year-old is aware of the speculation that has surrounded him this summer, but fully expects to be involved when Boro host Ipswich on the opening weekend of the Championship campaign.

“The only thing I can say is that I still have another year here,” said Arca, who reverted to his former position of left-back in Boro’s most recent pre-season game against Bray. “Since I got back, no one has said anything about that. As far as I know, I am going to be here.

“The squad has changed quite a bit. The style will be the same, but we have changed some players. There will be more new faces to come, and the manager is working on what is the best XI for the start of the new season.

“I’m just working towards being in the team. I don’t know of anything else going on that could make that change.”

Boro’s squad fly to Germany tomorrow ahead of matches with Sachsen Leipzig (Wednesday) and Union Berlin (Saturday).

They are likely to have a further behind-closed-doors game before they entertain Ipswich on August 7, and having eased themselves back into action on last week’s tour of Ireland, Arca expects the intensity of their preparations to increase from this point on.

“The last game (Bray) and the first game (Athlone) have been the most competitive ones we have had, because all the ones before that were behind-closed-doors,” he said.

“That’s pre-season. We all started slow, but we are slowly building things up and that will continue. The next two games in Germany will be harder and the team is slowly improving. Some players need to get fitter, but that’s normal. We will be all right.”

Strachan will combine his duties in Germany with continuing to pursue leads in the transfer market, but the Boro boss will miss out on one of his leading targets if Scunthorpe striker Gary Hooper joins Celtic this week.

Boro have refused to meet Scunthorpe’s £2.5m valuation of the 22-year-old, but sources in Scotland claim Celtic are preparing a double bid for both Hooper and former Sunderland striker Anthony Stokes.