George Boateng has signed a three-year extension to his contract, the Premier League club said on Thursday.

The 30-year-old's contract with the UEFA Cup runners-up was due to expire at the end of this month.

"It's such good news because this is the only thing that I have wanted," Boateng told the Middlesbrough website.

Boateng joined Middlesbrough from Aston Villa for five million pounds ($9.40 million) in 2002. He was a member of the Boro team that lost 4-0 to Sevilla in the UEFA Cup final last month.