Middlesbrough are to challenge Crystal Palace in pursuit of the Aston Villa striker Rudy Gestede as they seek to boost their goalscoring options in the mid-winter transfer window.

The Benin forward, who scored five times in the Premier League last season, has started only eight Championship matches for Villa this season and Steve Bruce is prepared to let him leave. Gestede attended Boro’s 3-0 home defeat by Liverpool last week and would favour a return to the top flight but will examine his options once the window opens.

Crystal Palace look into loaning Ben Davies and signing Rudy Gestede Read more

Palace are also keen as they seek to secure back-up to their main forward, Christian Benteke, after losing Connor Wickham to cruciate knee ligament damage for the remainder of the campaign. Another striker on the club’s books, the Chelsea loanee Loïc Rémy, has yet to feature this term after suffering a thigh injury in September, though he is approaching full fitness and could finally be available in the new year.

Gestede, who cost Villa an initial £4.5m when signing from Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 2015 but has found his opportunities limited following the arrival of Jonathan Kodjia, features on Palace’s list of striker options along with the Leicester City forward Leonardo Ulloa. There is the potential for Jordon Mutch, a former Birmingham City and England Under-21 midfielder little used by Palace, to move to Villa Park as part of any deal.

Boro are seeking reinforcements to ease the pressure on their main forward, Álvaro Negredo, who swelled his goals tally for the campaign to five with a brace in Saturday’s win over Swansea City. Villa could seek to secure Jordan Rhodes if the forward is made available by the Teesside club.