Dean Whitehead signs for Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough have completed the signing of free agent Dean Whitehead.

The midfielder, 31, who made 158 appearances for Stoke after moving from Sunderland for £3m in July 2009, has signed a two-year deal.

Whitehead was handed the captain’s armband at the Stadium of Light, where he stayed for five years before making a £3million switch to the Potteries during the summer of 2009.

His arrival at the Riverside Stadium came just hours after it was revealed that Moroccan Merouane Zemmama had left the club by mutual consent.