Middlesbrough will be monitoring the transfer activity of one Premier League club this summer as they eye a potential cash boost.
Michael Carrick is looking to guide Middlesbrough back to the Premier League for the first time since 2017 following a somewhat disappointing 2023/24 season.
After a fourth-place finish in 2022/23, Boro were expected to kick on and potentially even push for an automatic promotion place this past campaign.
However, injury issues and a number of stars leaving on permanent deals or after the expiration of their loans left the North East outfit’s squad deflated and lacking quality.
This saw Boro go on to finish eighth in the Championship – four points adrift of the play-off places. However, Carrick and co. have already begun improving the squad as the ex-Manchester United stars aims to better the Teessider’s most recent season.
Columbus Crew midfielder Aidan Morris is on the verge of completing a move to Teesside for a fee of around £3.14m, Luke Ayling has joined the club on a free transfer following a fruitful loan spell from Leeds United in the second half of last season and Bundesliga striker Delano Burgzorg has completed a Middlesbrough switch in recent days.
However, Boro are seemingly not done on the transfer front just yet, with the likes of Lewis O’Brien tipped to make a move to the Riverside in the coming months.
Middlesbrough set for cash injection thanks to Premier League club
In order to keep improving his squad in the current window, though, Carrick will need transfer funds. Steve Gibson has already shown this month that he is keen to back his manager with three new additions through the door but funds on Teesside are not limitless.
In turn, Middlesbrough will no doubt be keeping an eye on the situation of one of their former players, Nathan Wood. The Boro-born centre-back began his career with the club before joining Swansea City on a permanent basis in 2022, for whom the 22-year-old has made 72 appearances.
Now, Wood’s form is attracting the interest of a Premier League side, which could be a big boost for the North East club.
The Northern Echo report Swansea are bracing themselves for bids for the centre-back in the coming weeks, with Southampton boss Russell Martin keen on the stopper after failing with two bids worth up to £10m last summer.
While Swansea staved off interest in Wood last term, manager Luke Williams admitted recently that it may be time to sell the Englishman:
“There’s an obvious conclusion to be drawn there, that this might be the correct moment [to sell] because it makes sense all round maybe,” Williams said.
“We are not going to be advertising that there is a sale on, half-price, come and get him because he is an unreal player – we love him to pieces. But the situation that presents itself [means] it’s plausible that [a transfer] will happen.”
As a result, the Northern Echo state that it is ‘increasingly likely’ Boro will benefit from a cash boost this summer.
This is because when Middlesbrough sold Wood to the Welsh outfit in 2022, they interested what has been described as a ‘very healthy’ sell-on clause into the deal.
The exact details on the clause are unknown, but if Swansea are once again looking for a fee around the £10m mark, it is safe to assume a decent sum could be heading to the Riverside this summer.