Sources: Matej Vydra agrees deal after Middlesbrough and QPR offer
Former Burnley striker Matej Vydra has rejected offers from Championship clubs including Middlesbrough and Queens Park Rangers to agree a deal with Czech Republic champions Viktoria Plzen, sources have told Football Insider.
Vydra, 30, has been a free agent since last summer after seeing out his contract at Burnley.
Middlesbrough and QPR expressed an interest in signing the prolific Championship hit-man, but he has decided to return to his homeland with Plzen.
The six-time Czech champions announced the arrival of Vydra on Monday (19 December), with the striker signing a two-and-a-half-year deal.
The striker most recently played for Burnley in the 2021-22 campaign, scoring two goals and registering four assists in 24 appearances as the Clarets were rejected from the top flight.
He suffered a serious knee injury at the end of that season and is yet to make his return to action.
The 44-cap Czechia international confirmed that he was offered a new deal at Turf Moor – the terms of which fell below his expectations.
Vydra’s last appearances in the Championship came at Derby, where he scored 20 second-tier goals in 2017-18 to claim the league’s Golden Boot award.
The 30-year-old is a proven quantity at Championship level – scoring 65 goals in 187 games.
QPR are chasing a play-off berth under the stewardship of new manager Neil Critchley, while Middlesbrough sit mid-table after appointing Michael Carrick in October.
Both sides were looking to dip into the free-agent market to add firepower, with Chuba Akpom (nine) and Lyndon Dykes (six) leading the scoring charts for Boro and the Rs respectively.
In other news, Football Insider updates with Sunderland handed unexpected boost pre-January.