Championship promotion favourites Boro sent scouts to watch ex-Riverside youngster Birger Meling in Champions League action for Rosenborg.
George Friend looks pretty comfortable at Middlesbrough after Tony Pulis failed to bring in a new left-back late in the summer transfer window.
But that was not for a lack of trying. TEAMtalk reported that Boro wanted to sign Ipswich Town’s Denmark international Jonas Knudsen for around £3 million.
But it seems that Knudsen, who featured at the World Cup this summer, is set to spend the next few months at least at Portman Road.
Interestingly, TEAMtalk add that Middlesbrough were also hoping to sign a player who failed to make a single first-team appearance during a previous, and short-lived, spell at the Riverside.
Birger Meling was only a Boro player from 2013 to 2014, representing the academy side before returning to his homeland of Norway. He is now at Rosenborg and Dagbladet claims that Boro sent scouts to watch him during the 3-1 Champions League qualifying defeat to Celtic.
Meling scored Rosenborg’s only goal of the game.
And, suitably impressed, TEAMtalk claim that Boro then asked about signing the 23-year-old Norway international, whose ability to play anywhere across the back four would make him a fine squad player.
Now, Boro can only sign players on loan now with the permanent window shut but, as Sheffield United showed when they landed Oliver Norwood on a temporary basis and promised to pay £2 million in January, there is a way to get round the the market’s closure.
If Rosenborg are willing to accept money for Meling in January, he would be an excellent addition for a Boro side whose lack of depth at left-back could become a problem over a 46 game season.
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