However, the 1988 close season saw the return of Mark Hughes to Old Trafford after two years away and it was widely expected that Davenport would leave, but he began the 1988–89 season still a United player, and with a regular place in the first team. He scored in successive league games in September and was also on the scoresheet in a League Cup tie but he was then sold to newly promoted Middlesbrough in November 1988 for a fee of £750,000. He had scored his last goal for United on 28 September 1988, finding the net in a 1–0 Football League Cup second round first leg win over Rotherham United at Millmoor.