Gareth Southgate is prepared to concede defeat in his pursuit of Crystal Palace midfielder Ben Watson.
Boro stepped up their interest in the 22-year-old last week, and appeared to be in pole position to land his signature.
However, their £2million bid, which was accepted by the Eagles, alerted a number of their Premier League rivals to Watson's availability.
With that in mind, Wigan have now emerged as favourites to sign the highly-rated youngster, with Southgate prepared to accept that one of his top transfer targets is likely to be heading elsewhere.
"We think he is joining Wigan. We are disappointed because we have done a lot of work over a couple of months towards that but that's the way it goes sometimes, sometimes you don't get it," said the 38-year-old.
"Like I said, it's a disappointment but several factors came into a player's mind and our league position may come into it.
"He's a good kid and we would have liked to have signed him but we move on."
Asked if he had other irons in the fire ahead of the forthcoming transfer deadline, Southgate added: "We have got ideas but as soon as those ideas become public we lose players so I will be keeping that very close to my chest from now on."
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