A former Middlesbrough player has opened up on his decision to leave the club and his regret at deciding to do so.
Middlesbrough are having an excellent 2024 summer transfer window so far.
Three players have already been brought through the door in the form of Aidan Morris, Luke Ayling, and Delano Burgzorg.
With the backing of Steve Gibson, Kieran Scott and Michael Carrick have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure the majority of Boro’s business is completed early.
This should give the club the best chance of making a promotion push in the 2024/25 Championship campaign, which kicks off on August 10th.
Since the arrival of Scott as Middlesbrough’s sporting director, the North East outfit have been fairly wise in their recruitment.
Boro fans will be well aware this has not always been the case, however, with one transfer window, in particular, proving especially wasteful for the club.
Supported by the Premier League’s parachute payments, the Teessiders spent close to £50m in the summer of 2017 as they eyed a swift return to the top flight.
However, the majority of the signings that summer did not work out for the club, with Jonny Howson the only surviving member of that spending spree.
Ashley Fletcher opens up on decision to leave Middlesbrough
One of the players brought in that summer was Ashley Fletcher, who signed from West Ham United.
Fletcher was a promising young talent at the time but things did not work out for the now 28-year-old.
He completed 90 minutes just once in the first half of 2017/18 before being loaned to Sunderland for the remainder of the campaign.
Fletcher eventually left Middlesbrough on a permanent basis for Watford and has now opened up on his decision to leave the club, as per the Yorkshire Post.
He said: “You look back sometimes at the decisions you’ve made, I could’ve stayed at Middlesbrough and signed a new deal, and things could’ve played out differently.
“Obviously I got the opportunity to go to the Premier League – don’t think any player would turn that down.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I’m fully focused now on my future. This is a new chapter for me – I got married in the summer and I’ve got a little girl, so I’m a mature adult now. I’m looking forward to getting back and playing the best I can.”
Middlesbrough must keep hold of key players this summer
Middlesbrough losing players to Premier League teams is something their fans have become accustomed to since their return to the Championship.
The likes of Ben Gibson, Adama Traore, and Patrick Bamford all left for the top flight while they were key members of the North East outfit’s set-up.
Said sales hampered Boro’s chances of securing promotion and they must avoid making the same mistake this summer.
Emmanuel Latte Lath, Hayden Hackney, and Rav van den Berg were standout talents for the club in 2023/24 and the Teessiders must ensure they are still at the Riverside come September 1st.
Middlesbrough experienced a large overhaul of players in the summer of 2023 but so far this year, they are on course to avoid another outflux of top stars.