NEW Middlesbrough signing Adam Forshaw expects a battle for place in Aitor Karanka’s starting line-up, but the midfielder is ready to put a difficult few months behind him by helping the Teessiders secure promotion.

Forshaw put pen to paper on a three-and-a-half year contract yesterday after Boro had an offer, understood to be in the region of £2m, accepted by Wigan Athletic.

The 23-year-old will go straight into Karanka’s squad for Saturday’s lunchtime kick off at former club Brentford, but he isn’t expecting a free pass into the team.

Forshaw will compete with the likes of Grant Leadbitter, Adam Clayton and Dean Whitehead for a place, although the versatile player can play across the midfield.

“If you come to a good club you are going to get competition,” Forshaw said. “It’s a good squad and a strong one and I’ve just got to try my hardest and chip in when I am needed.

“Competition for places is only going to get the best out of everyone. I can’t expect to come into the team because the lads are doing really well.

“I know how big of a club this is. They’ve got lovely facilities at the training ground and the stadium too. This is a well known club in England and they are going in the right direction with a good manager and a good set of players.

“Watching from afar the style of play is really encouraging. That excites you. I am one of few that likes to play football so to be coming into a team like this is really exciting.”

After helping Brentford secure promotion to the Championship, former Bees boss Uwe Rosler persuaded Forshaw to join him at Wigan in the summer. However, after a bad run of results Rosler left and was replaced by Malky Mackay, but the Latics remain eight points from safety in the bottom three.

“It’s been a strange last five months or so,” Forshaw said. “It hasn’t been great on the pitch with Wigan and off it there has been a few problems and the reshaping of the squad.

“When I found out there was an offer being made and the bid was accepted I was really looking forward to the challenge of coming to Middlesbrough.

“I loved my two years at Brentford. We got promoted and when I found out Wigan wanted me that summer I was over the moon.

“I believed that it was going to be a great move and something good for my career but unfortunately it proved not to be. It was a tough five months but when this chance arose I was willing to grab it with both hands.

“Moves don’t always work out. We were having a bad time on the pitch. We had great players and a lot of people couldn’t understand why we were in that position and it is hard to put your finger on it, but putting that to one side now I am a Middlesbrough player and I am really relishing the challenge.”

Karanka wanted a midfielder during the transfer window following Milos Veljkovic’s return to Tottenham and Rhys Williams’ injury and the Boro head coach believes Forshaw will fit right in on Teesside.

“He's just the type of player I want here,” said Karanka. “He fits the profile of the players we want at the club.

“He's a good lad and he's a good player. It's important to bring in players who know the league and Adam fits that. He's a good addition to what we have here.”

Meanwhile, Karanka has reassured Mustapha Carayol that he knows what the winger is capable of after entering the final six months of his contract at Boro.

Carayol hasn’t played since last March when he suffered a serious knee injury in the goalless draw at Bournemouth.

The 26-year-old made his return to action for the Under-21s on Monday, playing 58 minutes of their 3-0 defeat at Brighton.

Carayol signed a three-year deal in the summer of 2012 from Bristol Rovers and despite the likes of Adam Reach, Grant Leadbitter and Ben Gibson all signing new deals this season, the winger is yet to sign up beyond the end of the current campaign.

Karanka has hailed the attacker’s return as the Teessiders’ most important signing this month, but given the length of his lay-off the Boro head coach is not putting any pressure on Carayol to earn a new deal.

Saturday’s crucial match at fellow promotion chasers Brentford is likely to come too soon for the winger, but Karanka expects to have Carayol at his disposal over the next couple of weeks.

“He is out of contract (at the end of the season) but we have an option (to extend),” Karanka revealed. “There's no pressure on him, he knows me and I know him, and always we're going to try to get the right thing for everybody.”

Details of Boro's FA Cup fifth round tie against Arsenal have been announced. The match, which has been selected for live television coverage on BT Sport, will kick off at 4pm on Sunday, February 15, at the Emirates Stadium.

Middlesbrough's league match at Birmingham City has been rearranged for Wednesday, February 18, 7.45pm kick off.