So, the summer transfer window has passed, with Championship clubs now only able to loan players till the end of August. Last summer, Boro spent £50 million on new players with a whole squad revamp firmly on the agenda. This summer has been vastly different.
Garry Monk brought in 11 players during his tenure, as Boro prepared for life back in the Championship. Boro’s ex-manager spent big money on unproven talent as he tried to implement his philosophy of playing out from the back and playing quick balls forward. It’s fair to say that the arrivals of Ashley Fletcher for £7 million and Marvin Johnson for £3 million raised more than a few eyebrows when they arrived at Rockcliffe and both have had underwhelming spells on Teesside so far. Boro are also said to be cutting their losses on Johnson as a season-long loan to Brammal Lane edges closer.
Pulis, however, has not been afforded that luxury and has had to take a different approach: adding only a couple of players to an already experienced Championship squad. The arrivals of Aden Flint and Paddy McNair, costing a combined £12 million, brought extra stability to a Boro backline that only conceded 45 goals last season – the 4th best defence in the division. Attention now has to turned to further up the pitch with only two full weeks of the loan window left.
Since the start of the window, Pulis had been adamant that this current squad needed improvement for it to be able to compete at the top end of the table. Still, his stance has not changed, and only last week Pulis emphasised that this crop of players aren’t good enough for promotion.
“What we’ve wanted and needed to do is improve, and unfortunately, we haven’t managed to get those players through the door,” Pulis said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“That’s a desperate disappointment, and it will be a disappointment to everyone within the football club.
“There’s still openings to sort stuff, and there has to be more depth to this squad. It’s got to be a busy next few weeks.”
It’s clear Pulis is underwhelmed by Boro’s lack of transfer activity especially since it seems key targets have gone elsewhere. Martyn Waghorn opted for Frank Lampard’s new Derby regime and Joe Bryan initially chose Villa Park over the Riverside before abandoning Steve Bruce’s side to join Premier League Fulham.
That disappointment, combined with the departures of three key players in Adama Traore, Ben Gibson and Patrick Bamford, have left many fans in the North-East questioning Boro’s transfer and recruitment policy. If the transfer window closed today, the Boro squad would be substantially weaker than the one that finished last season. If that hypothetical scenario became a reality on the 31st August, you would have to ask what the recruitment team had been doing all summer – especially given that Boro are one of the Championship’s biggest payers.
In the next few weeks, Boro need two new wingers, a creative midfielder and a full-back. That’s a lot of work to do in two and a half weeks when we’ve only brought in four players so far all summer. Pulis will evidently have to use his long list of contacts and pull a few strings to bring in the required players before the end of the month.
But, if there’s one man who can bring in those required players it’s Tony Pulis. Looking at his business from previous deadline days alone, he has brought in 26 players over the past decade. Most of those players were considered successes as well, with Jack Butland moving to Stoke, Scott Dann transferring to Crystal Palace and Darren Fletcher heading to West Brom. Pulis has even shown his expertise in last minute transfers at Boro, with the deadline day signing of Muhammed Besic – although it remains to be seen if the Bosnian will return to Teesside this summer.
Therefore, although Boro realistically need at least four players to be able to compete for automatic promotion this year, it does not mean that this issue will not have been resolved by the time the loan window shuts.
Boro scored 67 goals last season, the lowest out of all the teams in the top six, so it’s clear where the majority of the work needs to be done. The loan signing of Jordan Hugill should help in that department especially with the striker wanting to shine at his boyhood club. Now it’s a case of making sure we have the players able to provide Hugill and Assombalonga with those chances. We have two and a half weeks to make that happen.
You would have to say that so far, Boro’s transfer window has not been a success but there is still time to change that. After all, good things come to those who wait.
The 92 Blog 