Middlesbrough beat Hull City and Burnley to the signature of winger as £6m deal completed
Middlesbrough have completed the signing of winger Morgan Whittaker from Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle.
Interest in the 24-year-old had been rife, with Burnley and Hull City reported to have had bids rejected.
Doubts over his future were heightened earlier in the week, when Plymouth boss Miron Muslic claimed Whittaker had not turned up for the club’s clash with Burnley.
His time at Home Park has now been brought to an end with a deal believed to be worth £6m plus add-ons.
Whittaker, who made over 100 appearances for the Pilgrims, has penned a fouir-and-a-half-year deal at the Riverside.
Boro boss Michael Carrick said: “We’re delighted to be able to bring Morgan into the club. There was a lot of interest in him, but it says a lot that he wanted to come here and be a part of things."
Whittaker has become Boro’s second senior signing of the window, following Ryan Giles through the door.
While incomings have lifted the mood at the Riverside, the club have had to contend with interest in two of their most coveted assets.
Liverpool prodigy Ben Doak appears set to remain on loan at Boro until the end of the season but had been strongly linked with a permanent move to a Premier League club.
Emmanuel Latte Lath, meanwhile, has been the subject of interest from MLS big-spenders Atlanta United.