Ambitious Middlesbrough suit Neil Taylor but talks over a new contract will have to wait a while longer

The left wing-back joined Middlesbrough on a two-month contract in mid-November and made an encouraging debut in Saturday's 1-0 win at home to Bournemouth.

For Boro, keeping hold of a proven high-quality performer would seem to make sense, as staying at a club which even in the short time he has been there has transformed itself into genuine promotion contenders would for the 32-year-old, but the busiest part of the English football calendar means such thoughts will be put on the backburner for now.

"It's not at the forefront of my mind at the minute," said the former Swansea City and Aston Villa defender. "That will probably be discussed after the Christmas period.

"I'm fairly relaxed on it, I enjoy playing football and being here. That's something to look to in the future but it's such a busy Festive period there's no time to really sit down and think about that, it's all about preparation, play, recover.

"I've enjoyed my time here and I'm thankful to the club and Chris (Wilder, the manager) for bringing me in so we'll see what happens in January.

Although the Wales international was out of work until November, he insists it was not for a lack of offers, he was just waiting for a club which matches his ambitions.

"There's still loads of ambition in me," he said. "That was one of the reasons I wanted to come here. As soon as I spoke to Chris he spoke about wanting to go up.

"I had offers in the summer but for some clubs the pandemic's been difficult and they just want to survive and exist, there were no ambitions other than to stay up and I get that because it's been a tough couple of years for football.

"Middlesbrough Football Club speaks for itself in terms of the size of the club. When I left Swansea they in the Premier League, it was to go to Villa in the Championship but it was a massive club who didn't belong in the Championship and I feel like Middlesbrough's the same.

"Although there will be quite a lot of clubs thinks the same, Middlesbrough's definitely a football club set up and ready to be in the Premier League, they've got big ambitions and they want to get promoted.

"A big pull was Chris. I've always admired his teams from afar and when I've played against them I've found them extremely difficult to play against, especially his Sheff U teams.

"What he's managed to do here in such a short space of time here shows how good a manager he is. Since I've walked in the door he's proved how good he is and I think the future's bright for Middlesbrough."