STRIKER Leroy Lita joined Boro on a three-year deal at the beginning of August 2009 having been released by Reading earlier that summer.

Leroy started out as a teenager with Bristol City, scoring 31 goals in 85 league games, including 41 substitute appearances.

He cost Reading £1m - the club's first seven figure sum - in July 2005 and made 100 appearances for the Royals, scoring 32 goals.

His record included 11 goals in 22 starts to help the Royals win promotion to the Premier League in 2005-06, his first season with the club.

Leroy scored seven times in 16 games on loan at Norwich City during the 2008/09 season, including a hat-trick against eventual champions Wolves.

Born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Leroy turned down the country of his birth to win Under-21 caps for England.