This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
With the January transfer window approaching, Middlesbrough might be in for a hectic month.
After missing out on the play-offs last season, Middlesbrough has had a promising first half of the season, but while they are presently sixth in the standings, January might be critical to their chances of remaining in the promotion race.
| Championship table (as it stands 23rd December) | ||||
| Team | P | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | Sheffield United | 22 | 21 | 48 |
| 2 | Leeds United | 22 | 26 | 45 |
| 3 | Burnley | 22 | 19 | 44 |
| 4 | Sunderland | 22 | 16 | 43 |
| 5 | Blackburn Rovers | 21 | 7 | 37 |
| 6 | Middlesbrough | 22 | 10 | 35 |
| 7 | West Brom | 22 | 10 | 35 |
| 8 | Watford | 21 | 2 | 34 |
Boro refused to sell any of its important players in the summer, and there were no high-profile departures from the Riverside Stadium, but with speculation growing about a number of their stars, their resolve may be tested once more in January.
Ipswich Town made a £20 million approach for striker Emmanuel Latte Lath in the summer, and the Tractor Boys are expected to renew their interest in January, along with West Ham United, while defender Rav van den Berg has been linked with Crystal Palace.
However, Boro head coach Michael Carrick has indicated that “we want to come out of January as strong, if not stronger, than we are going into it,” implying that he is also aiming to strengthen his squad while keeping players like Latte Lath and van den Berg.
Middlesbrough fan pundit identifies potential January targets
When asked what his hopes are ahead of the January transfer window, FLW’s Middlesbrough fan pundit Jasper Hudson said that retaining key players will be crucial next month, but he also urged the club to target Aston Villa’s Louie Barry, Hull City’s Ryan Giles and Bournemouth’s Max Aarons.
“A perfect January for Middlesbrough involves keeping key players, namely Ben Doak, Emmanuel Latte Lath, Finn Azaz, Rav van den Berg and Hayden Hackney,” Jasper said.
“Those are the most key players to the system and the way we play, and they are largely irreplaceable at this stage of the season, especially if we were to lose more than one of them.
“If we lost one, the easiest to deal with would be Latte Lath because Tommy Conway has been so good when he’s come in, but Latte Lath has a huge physical presence which is why he’s been so successful, so that would be a big loss.
“We definitely need to strengthen as well, I think the Louie Barry loan is an easy one.
“It’s January, it’s six months, it makes sense to add another quality option, and if it doesn’t work out, it’s only a short-term loan.
“We could potentially strengthen at left-back as well, Lukas Engel just hasn’t featured at all and it’s all been left to Neto Borges with Alex Bangura out injured.
“The obvious choice would be if we can get a deal to bring Ryan Giles back, again only on a six-month loan with an option to buy or something like that where we don’t have to commit.
“It’s been a year since he’s been with us, so it just gives us a chance to add quality and depth, and reassess as to whether he could be a player that would impact the squad going forward.
“I think we could also strengthen at right-back, Tommy Smith and Anfernee Dijksteel are both out of contract in the summer, so it would be a good chance again to get a player in on a short-term deal or maybe potentially buy a player.
“With the way we play with attacking full-backs under Carrick, Max Aarons could potentially be a name as he’s a proven Championship player.
“Strengthening the squad with quality, especially at full-back with the injuries we’ve had, will be crucial in the January window, as well as keeping our best players where we can.”
Leave a Reply