Middlesbrough have expressed confidence that Stewart Downing’s contract dispute with the club will come to an end within weeks. Ian Elliott, the England winger’s agent, has said that his client would see out the remainder of his present deal before leaving on a free transfer, but Keith Lamb, the Middlesbrough chief executive, is adamant that a resolution will be found.

Downing’s contract expires in 2010 and the 23-year-old is understood to have rejected an extension that could be worth about £35,000 a week. After an inquiry last month from Tottenham Hotspur failed to lead to a substantive bid, Elliott stated that he would not enter into further negotiations with Middlesbrough.

“I am very confident that we will reach agreement sooner rather than later,” Lamb said. “It is something that myself and Steve Gibson [the club's chairman] have been very conscious of and have been working at over the past couple of weeks.

“I would hope that within the next four to six weeks we get a solution to it that’s acceptable to Stewart and to the football club.”

Tottenham and Everton have been long-term admirers of Downing, but Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough manager, has made little secret of his determination to reject their advances. “He is very, very settled in his mind that he wants to play his football here and he is an incredibly valuable part of the team,” Southgate said.

“I know negotiations have been going on for quite a while, but what we have tried to do with all the young players is keep rewarding them every year or two years for their performances and get their contracts sorted out before it gets to the stage where they have only a few months left.

“With Stewart, we are talking about this, but he still has two years-plus to go. We see it as one of our priorities, but in terms of the timescale, there is still time to negotiate with him.”