DONE DEAL: Middlesbrough Complete Another Brilliant Signing As Agreement Has Been Reached

DONE DEAL: Middlesbrough Complete Another Brilliant Signing As Agreement Has Been Reached

MICHAEL Carrick has clarified Middlesbrough’s stance on loan players after the arrival of Lewis O’Brien and Sam Greenwood.

Carrick said last week that Boro had “moved away” from the loan market, but that didn’t mean they were against making any temporary additions full stop.

What they wanted to avoid was a repeat of this summer when they had to rebuild almost half of their first team after several key loanees returned to their parent clubs. Boro found themselves in the incredibly difficult position this summer of having to replace Ryan Giles, Cameron Archer and Aaron Ramsey as well as Zack Steffen and Alex Mowatt.

But Boro were always open to the possibility of bringing in one or two loan players this summer. Indeed, the deal to sign Lewis O’Brien was more than two months in the making. And given Nottingham Forest reportedly told clubs interested in signing the midfielder on a permanent deal that they’d have to pay £10m, a loan was the only realistic prospect of Boro bringing the highly-rated 24-year-old to Teesside.

 

Greenwood, on the other hand, ticked all the necessary boxes as Carrick looked for a versatile No.10 to add to his forward line after the exit of Chuba Akpom. The Leeds United loanee will wear the No.29 shirt this season, Akpom’s jersey last term.

 

“It’s not a change in mind at all,” said Carrick about Boro’s loan strategy.

 

“What I meant is that we were quite heavily weighed towards loans last season, and that is something we were conscious of, but we have given ourselves better foundations now to move forward.

 

“So by no means are we against loans and we are delighted to have the boys in. It’s just getting the right balance really, to get us through the next few months, the rest of the season, but then also keeping an eye on beyond that as well. We always want to build and evolve as a group.”

Despite the difficult start to the Championship season, Boro want to be in the top six mix again this season, but there’s also a long-term eye on the bigger picture, hence the push this summer to bring in young players who are deemed to have big potential, such as Rav van den Berg and Sammy Silvera.

Boro host QPR on Saturday looking to build on their come from behind success at Bolton on Tuesday by getting their first league win of the season.

 

While obviously disappointed with the results, Carrick has been encouraged by what he’s seen in recent weeks.

 

He said: “I wouldn’t say happy but we’ve seen good signs. I’m really happy with the boys in terms of their attitude and willingness to try the right things. There’s a lot to be happy with and we’ve seen enough to feel the boys have deserved more from the games.

 

“But you have to go and make it happen, which we did on Tuesday. It was a tough situation to be a goal down against a really good team. The boys stuck at it, came through strong and showed really good character.”