Middlesbrough transfer window round-up: Three in and five out at The Riverside
- Feb 2, 2018
- 3 min read
Tony Pulis has only been in charge for just over a month but it hasn’t taken him long as he looks to reshape the squad he’s inherited.
Three players joined Middlesbrough during January with two joining on Deadline Day.
On Deadline Day Middlesbrough confirmed the loan signing of Mo Besic from Everton and the signing of Huddersfield Town right back Martin Craine on a permanent deal.
A day prior to this Boro also confirmed the signing of England U21 international Jack Harrison.
The winger has joined on a initial loan deal from Man City after the club decided to pay out his contract from their sister club, New York City FC, and have immediately loaned him out to Tony Pulis’ Boro side.
The deal has a lot of similarities to the one in which saw Aaron Mooy join Huddersfield on loan and then on a permanent deal in the summer.
Harrison, who is a former Man United academy product, made the decision to move to America when he was just 14 years old.
The Stoke born winger made his debut in 2016 and since then has gone to play 59 times for New York City, scoring 14 goals in the process.
There is a lot of hype across the pond surrounding Jack Harrison as ex pros like Frank Lampard and Andre Pirlo rate the youngest highly, Harrison has also dubbed the nickname “Golden Boy” from his teammate David Villa.
In an interview back June, Frank Lampard praised his former team mate Harrison saying:
“I speak to Jack all the time,” Lampard told MLSsoccer.com. “I think there a lot of big things to come from Jack. I like him, he’s a great lad and has great ability.”
In terms of our goings it was a relatively busy month for Middlesbrough.
First out of the door was midfielder Adam Forshaw.
Forshaw joined Leeds United for a fee around £4.5m and said in an interview after leaving Boro:
“I’d like to think the Middlesbrough fans and the club knew what I was about,
“By no means I didn’t leave on bad terms or anything, unfortunately we had six central midfielders, it might have been one more, for two positions.
“It was almost a little bit unhealthy.
“I think there was a lot of rotation, you played a couple of games and then you were out and nobody really sort of kept their position in the team.
“So for me I am at an age now where I just want to be playing regularly, as much as possible and enjoying it and this is the perfect opportunity for me.”
Another player that left the Riverside permanently was right-back Cyrus Christie.
The summer signing from Derby was former Boro manager Monk’s second signing of the season and impressed during the 38 year olds short spell in charge.
However, after a change in manager which saw Monk replaced by Pulis, Christie has found game time hard to come by and has been replaced by Ryan Shotton who has been in amazing form at right-back since Pulis took charge.
Christie leaves Boro after just 6 months in the North East but he did have this to say as he took to Twitter to thank fans for all their support during his short time at the club:
“Just wanted to say a big thanks to all the fans and staff at Boro who made me feel welcome from day one. It was short but sweet for me. Really enjoyed my time there and made some great friends for life . I wish you all the best for the rest of season. #UTB”
Two more summer signings departed out on loan on Deadline Day as Martin Braithwaite returned to France joining Bordeaux and Ashley Fletcher joined North-East rivals Sunderland on loan.
Bordeaux have the option to sign Braithwaite on a permanent deal at the end of the season and the Dane’s reason for leaving so soon is because he feels he needs game time ahead of the World Cup this summer and won’t get it at Boro.
Fletcher on the other hand has left to join Sunderland.
The Black Cats sir 23rd in the table and after losing two key strikers in the transfer window needed a new forward.
Fletcher will be hoping to become the new number no.9 at Sunderland and score enough goals to guide Chris Coleman’s side to safety.
The last player departing the Riverside this January was Algerian midfielder Adlène Guedioura.
The 32 year old had his contract terminated by the club, a year to the day since joining.
The midfielder managed just the one game this season and has linked up with former Manager Aitor Karanka and has made a return to the City Ground with Nottingham Forest, a club with fans that rate him highly.
Credit to Middlesbrough FC and Leeds United for the imagery used in this article.
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