Championship strugglers Boro want to raid League One Fleetwood Town for winger Wes Burns.
It is no secret that Middlesbrough are living on a budget right now – a shoestring one at that.
With those precious parachute payments coming to an end and with Boro forced to count the cost of the expensive and rather ill-fated recruitment drives carried out by Garry Monk and Tony Pulis, money is tight at the Riverside.
The Championship strugglers will have to be clever in the January transfer window, then, as Jonathan Woodgate looks to bring in a couple of astute, bargain signings to help drag the one-time Premier League stalwarts away from the relegation zone.
Wes Burns would be exactly that; an astute, bargain signing.
According to The Sun (10 November, page 59), Middlesbrough have set their sights on Fleetwood Town’s Cardiff-born 24-year-old – a fleet-footed attacker who has been described as ‘outstanding’ by Cod Army boss Joey Barton.
Quick, versatile and blessed with an eye for goal (Burns scored eight times last season) Fleetwood fans understandably don’t want to lose a player who, along with star striker Paddy Madden, is absolutely integral to their chances of seeing Championship football at Highbury.
But after missing out on Burns over the summer, Middlesbrough aren’t going away any time soon.
Though a mere mention of the winger’s name will sent a shiver down the spine of former Boro manager Aitor Karanka. It was his winning goal, in a 2016 Championship clash against Bristol City, which ruined the North East outfit’s hopes of breaking an English football record.
They hadn’t conceded a goal for nine consecutive games until they made the trip to Ashton Gate – and Burns’ dramatic late strike denied Middlesbrough a place in history. No team in the second tier had ever gone 10 games without letting a goal in after all.
“I expected much more from my players,” Karanka told the Yorkshire Post.
“It was a poor performance. Sometimes there is more pressure for the players in facing a struggling side than in big games and we didn’t deal with it.”
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