Harry told to stay away

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate has told Tottenham counterpart Harry Redknapp to forget about signing winger Stewart Downing.

Redknapp revealed at the weekend he wants to bring balance to his White Hart Lane engine room by signing a left-sided midfielder and confirmed he is an admirer of £12million-rated Downing.

Southgate has insisted his star man is not for sale and intends to build a team around Downing rather than offload him to a rival Premier League club.

Speaking after the narrow 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on Monday, he told the Gazette: "We are not looking to sell during the January transfer window.

"We want to be a stable football club and we believe that the best policy, if we are to make progress, is to keep our best players.

"We know that there will be a lot of speculation and stories flying around over the next few weeks, most of them without any substance.

"It's important that we keep calm. We are not looking to lose our better players."