Espanyol will lose another key player with the departure of Christian Stuani.

AS understands that the move to 'Boro is closed but will not be confirmed until some point on Wednesday when all relevant documentation has been signed by all implicated parties. The Uruguayan who scored 15 goals last season for Espanyol moves to the North East of England to Middlesbrough. The Championship side are managed by Aitor Karanka and came close to securing promotion to the top flight of English football last season.

The player will sign in exchange for three 3 million euro, however Espanyol stand to receive approximately 300,000 of this fee as 50% of the players rights are owned by Italian club, Reggina. Espanyol also hold an outstanding debt with the Italian club of 1.2 million from his initial move to Espanyol back in 2012. In his three seasons in Barcleona Stuani has scored 29 goals and has earned the admiration of the Espanyol faithful. His impressive form in Spain saw the striker secure a World Cup call up for the Uruguayan national team at the 2014 Brazil World Cup and he also featured for Uruguay in the recent Copa America.

By the end of the week it’s expected that Stuani will be under the guidance of Karanka. Middlesborough are currently working on their 2015-16 pre-season campaign in Marbella.