MIDDLESBROUGH have taken a social media swipe at Celtic as the English Championship club announced the signing of Riley McGree.

Chris Wilder sealed a deal to sign the Australian midfielder, 23, after the player had held talks with Celtic.

Ange Postecoglou confirmed initial discussions had taken place over a move for McGree before he "decided to look elsewhere". 

But the Celtic boss also suggested a deal was ruled out as he insisted he wouldn't convince a player to join the club if they don't want to be there.

Middlesbrough swooped in to sign McGree and aimed a cheeky dig at Celtic over the transfer talks in a message on Twitter.

Referencing Celtic as they shared a snap on Twitter, a Middlesbrough post read: "We've gone for the away kit celebration shot this time.

"Some people prefer red to green, but hey ho... #UTB"

Wilder himself hit out at some speculation over the deal to take McGree to the Riverside as he blasted reports he splashed the cash to gazump Celtic.

He commented: “There is a lot of nonsense being written which I need to get to the bottom of in terms of blowing other clubs out of the water with fees and in terms of wages.

“That’s not just with Riley, that’s with Flo [Balogun] and with Aaron Connolly too.

“We’ve been into these players for a while now and we’ve understood the deals and situations, and as happens, these boys have other clubs coming in for them.

“But genuinely, if you ask those three players where they wanted to come and where they wanted to be, they’ve got their opinion.

“You can say, of course they’re going to say that, but I genuinely believe they do want to be here, especially in Riley’s case.

“I’ve known about him for a while and it speaks volumes about the hard work we put in.

“I don’t believe they’re coming because of a financial point of view. We are competitive and we have been competitive, but I think there are a lot of other things that have swayed why these boys have wanted to come here."

Postecoglou had said: “I had a discussion with him and then he obviously decided he wanted to take an opportunity elsewhere, which is fine. It wasn’t really anything too drastic for us.