Middlesbrough sold their highly-rated young winger Morgan Rogers to Aston Villa in the January transfer window.
Boro received a fee thought to be worth around £15m for the 21-year-old ace but the club weren’t able to replace him.
Rogers had been in sparkling form for Michael Carrick‘s side following his summer move from Manchester City.
The England youth international netted seven times whilst laying on nine assists for Boro and it’s become evident in recent weeks that they’ll need to properly replace him in the summer.
Blackpool’s winger Karamoko Dembele, who is on loan from Ligue 1 outfit Stade Brestois, is a player Boro should seriously consider signing as Rogers’ heir.
Middlesbrough should consider signing Karamoko Dembele
Dembele rose to prominence during his time at Celtic and was dubbed a wunderkind after clips of his academy performances emerged online.
The 2003-born is now enjoying a successful loan spell at League One promotion hopefuls Blackpool and is beginning to fulfil his early promise.
His teammate, James Husband, believes he is ‘unplayable’: “He’s got every chance to be a top top player. He’s not enjoyable to play against in training, he makes me feel old. He’s a delight to watch every day and some of the stuff he does is unplayable.
Husband, formerly of Norwich and Fulham, also noted that Dembele is one of the best talents in League One: “This boy is special. I’ve heard players from opposite teams say ‘this kid is unbelievable.’ I’ve not seen a talent like him in this league for a long, long time.”
Naturally, after a season excelling in the third tier, the 21-year-old appears ready to test himself in the Championship and Boro should strongly consider negotiating a permanent transfer with Brest.
Karamoko Dembele’s incredible Blackpool stats
The ex-Celtic wunderkind appears to have found his mojo again and is looking every inch of a top-flight player at Bloomfield Road.
Dembele has netted seven goals whilst providing 12 assists across 40 appearances for The Seasiders, who are firmly in the race for the playoffs.
The left-footed playmaker has operated as an attacking midfielder, a right winger, a centre-forward and even as a number eight, evincing his tremendous versatility.
According to WhoScored, Dembele is averaging 1.2 key dribbles and 1.9 key passes per 90 minutes, which puts him at the top of both metrics in the Blackpool squad.
He is also the club’s top assister and second top scorer, which is pretty remarkable given he only celebrated his 21st birthday last month.
With plenty of room to develop and improve, Boro should pounce on his signature whilst he is attainable for a reasonable fee.