Gareth Southgate will have face-to-face discussions with Yakubu Ayegbeni today, but there is a growing acceptance that the Nigeria striker will be leaving Middlesbrough this summer. The manager will herald the beginning of preseason training by asking his leading striker for an update on his position, with Manchester City emerging as suitors for his signature.

Portsmouth, too, have a longstanding admiration for their former player, who has scored 25 goals in his 71 league appearances since joining Middlesbrough in July 2005, but a likely transfer fee of £10 million is thought to be prohibitive. There will be few such constraints once Thaksin Shinawatra’s takeover is completed at City, where Sven-Göran Eriksson, his choice of manager, is an admirer of Yakubu.

Eriksson’s close relationship with Pini Zahavi, the agent, will be pivotal, given that the Israeli is Yakubu’s representative. There is a feeling at Middlesbrough that the 24-year-old has had his head turned by rumours of interest from rival clubs – he has family based in the South and West Ham United are another possibility – and on occasions his commitment was questioned in private last season.

While a tally of 16 goals was a decent return, he did not score in his final 12 appearances of the campaign, a barren stretch that began in late February. With Middlesbrough having lost Mark Vidu-ka on a free transfer to Newcastle United, the prospect of Yakubu’s departure would appear troubling, but Southgate is determined to lead the club in a new direction.

A collection of fine players has not lifted Middlesbrough into an elevated league position and greater emphasis will be placed on a team ethic, desire and unity. They have agreed a £6 million fee with Manchester United for Alan Smith, who epitomises the battling qualities that Southgate wishes to encourage and the manager believes the striker would enthuse supporters.

A decision from Smith is expected this week, once he returns from holiday in Dubai, and while there have been positive signals from the forward’s camp, he has expressed no desire to leave Old Trafford. Southgate has signed two strikers in Tuncay Sanli, on a free transfer from Fenerbahçe, and Jérémie Aliadière from Arsenal for an initial fee of £1.5 million.

Neighbouring Newcastle are on the verge of signing Gérémi, the Chelsea defender, who passed a medical last night and has agreed a three-year contract, as Sam Allardyce, the new manager, pursues a fourth summer buy.

Tomorrow, Newcastle head off for a training camp in Austria and among their number will be Michael Owen, who, as The Times revealed last month, will be starting the season at St James’ Park, in a development that will be welcomed by Allardyce.

The manager expressed annoyance last week at the presence of release clauses in the contracts of Owen (£9 million) and Obafemi Martins (£13 million), but the former will have an opportunity to repay the club’s fans for two injury-ravaged seasons.

Manchester United and Liverpool have a longstanding interest in Owen, but both clubs have been pursuing other candidates, while Allardyce wants Eidur Gud-johnsen to fill Martins’s shirt if the Nigeria player is signed by Arsenal or Juventus. Allardyce was in Barcelona on Friday, when Gudjohnsen’s name was brought up in talks.

Allardyce’s initial target was Edmilson, the versatile Brazil player, and having received encouragement from the World Cup winner, a Newcastle delegation will resume talks with Barcelona today. Complications include the knee injury that will enforce the 30-year-old’s absence for up to six months, his £80,000-a-week wage and Barcelona’s demand for a fee of €5 million (£3.3 million).