As the club dig their heels in to stay in the top flight, Aitor Karanka may well have had a lucky escape during the transfer window.
As the January transfer window slammed shut, many Middlebrough fans were left feeling pretty deflated. After being linked with the likes of Bojan, Robert Snodgrass and Jese Rodriguez, the Paris Saint-Germain man now on loan at Las Palmas, Middlesbrough ended up bringing in just one player on deadline day: Watford’s Adlene Guedioura.
Looking like he wanted to improve his forward line, Boro fans could hardly blame their manager, Aitor Karanka, for getting a little prickly in his press conference on the final day. The Spaniard likely saw the attacking midfield areas as the most important to strengthen going into the final months of the season, and only time will tell if Middlesbrough will end up ruing their chance to bring someone in.
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Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka
However, Middlesbrough might well have had a lucky escape after missing out on one of their most high profile targets. Paris Saint-Germain attacker Jese, who worked his way up through the Real Madrid B side into the main team, has recently joined Spanish side Las Palmas on loan, despite a big money move to Paris last August.
So why the move away? Since moving to the Parisian side, Jese Rodriguez has only made nine appearances for the club, failing to make any great impact. He has fallen behind the likes of Angel Di Maria, Lucas Moura, Hatem Ben Arfa and Julian Draxler in the pecking order, but why? Could it be that Jese wasn’t prepared to work hard enough for the shirt, or that he had a problem adjust to another league? He was brought in to compete with Lucas Moura, yet couldn’t get a game ahead of him.
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Jese Rodriguez while playing for Real Madrid
If this is the case, then perhaps Jese was not the kind of player Karanka needed as they look to stay in the division? To stay up, Middlesbrough are going to need to show commitment and desire and a passion for the club they’re playing for; as well as someone who can make an immediate impact – question marks that would have hovered over the Spaniard.
With talented attackers like VIktor Fischer, Stewart Downing, Adama Traore and Gaston Ramirez, Middlesbrough look like they have enough to stay in the division, but only time will tell if the move to not sign Jese Rodriguez was a mistake or a masterstroke.
Former Real Madrid forward Jese Rodriguez
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