Middlesbrough have agreed to sign South Korea's Lee Dong-Gook from the Pohang Steelers.

The Premier League club said on their Web site (www.mfc.premiumtv.co.uk) on Sunday they were confident the striker would be granted a work permit despite not having played the required 75 percent of his country's internationals in the last 12 months.

Lee, 27, who has had a trial period with Boro, was missing from South Korea's World Cup campaign last year because of a serious knee injury.

He also missed out on the 2002 World Cup finals on home soil when coach Guus Hiddink omitted him from the squad.

Boro said they would submit a work-permit application in the next few days.