Boro Are Now In Advance Talks With Arsenal For The Loan Signing Of Striker Folarin Balogun.
He Is Expected To Complete His Move In The Next Few Days.
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Wilder said he hoped to have two new players before the Mansfield Cup tie. So one in already as Connolly signed already.
I would like to see another striker coming. But thhe second one could be the young left back in Bryant Akono Bilongo, a former Chelsea trialist.
I hope the match will go ahead on Saturday. Up the Boro!
@original-fat-bob whilst I appreciate we will have to compromise somewhat to whom we bring in on loan, I was hoping that we would have been able to pick up a forward player with more experience.
Of course saying that, probably most EPL clubs will want their younger fringe players to get experience. “Pickers can’t be Choosers”
After addressing attacking options, Middlesbrough are now in the market for a midfielder.
Reports suggest this will be a permanent signing
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@original-fat-bob As long as he is, tall, well built, has pace, can tackle, score goals and most importantly make those defence spitting forward passes.
I don’t think that is too much to ask for. 😂😂
The only glimpse I've had of Balogun was a few weeks ago against Sunderland. The game was billed as an opportunity for some promising Arsenal youngsters to make their mark. Nketiah scored an outstanding hat-trick. Unfortunately Balogun looked completely out of his depth, a lad against Division One men, and he was withdrawn early in the second half.
I trust Chris Wilder's judgment, but we are paying, at 40 grand a week, top dollar, for a young man who has everything to prove in league football at a time when we need a striker who is already up and running.
Hoping for the best with him, but fearing that what he may most need is what we most lack: the time to accommodate and develop.
@lenmasterman Yes, I saw the same match on TV and he did not impress much. A couple of mistakes is all I remember.
But as you said, I think Wilder has more knowledge and a pile of reports of him. Looks like the Arsenal fans like and rate him highly.
On paper, he look like a good fit to us.
Like Connolly does. His YouTube clips are impressive and just what we need in the system how we play at the moment.
What is best, Wilder looks like improving players. So there is hope. Up the Boro!
Finally something definitive straight from the Horses mouth on Spence!
Heard from the training ground last night from Nathan Wood who trained for the first time with Connolly and said “He really looks the business”
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Caolin Boyd Munce
More on Boro’s new midfield acquisition…
- Caolan was born in Belfast on 26 January 2000.
- He was a youth player with Glentoran, and made one senior appearance in the NIFL Premiership match as a 16-year-old in a match against Crusaders.
- Caolan has said that ‘crossing the water’ was always his professional aim, and he achieved that in the summer of 2016. After catching the eye in the Dale Farm Milk Cup, a prestige youth football competition in Northern Ireland, he trialled with Birmingham City and impressed enough to earn a two-year scholarship.
- One of 12 taken on by the Blues that summer, he was described by their lead development coach Steve Spooner as “left-footed with a high level of skill. He's good technician and has a very good engine and displays the capabilities of a real box to box midfield player.”
- Caolan was part of the Birmingham team that reached the semi-final of the 2017–18 FA Youth Cup, losing out to Chelsea.
- The following season, he spent time on loan with non-league Redditch United, then returned to become a regular for the Blues’ Under-23s side that finished runners up in the northern section of the Premier League Professional Development League, only losing out on the title to Leeds United on penalties.
- In 2019, Caolan’s progress at Birmingham was rewarded with his first professional contract, and received his first call to Northern Ireland’s U21 side. Having represented the Green and White Army at every age group from U15, he has to date been capped 17 times at Under-21 level.
- On 6 August the same year, Caolan was handed his senior debut by Blues manager Pep Clotet, coming on as a substitute for Jude Bellingham in an EFL Cup match against Portsmouth.
- Caolan’s first Championship appearance, again as a substitute, was the following February in a win away to Bristol City, and he made a further five from the bench in the 2019/20 season.
- In November 2020, former Boro boss Aitor Karanka gave Caolan a full league debut in an unfamiliar left wing-back role for a match against Bournemouth.
- Injury ruled out further first team involvement that season, but he did return to help Blues’ development side claim the Professional Development League title with a win over Sheffield United. In June last year, he signed a new contract with Birmingham.
- Caolan has made 11 appearances for the Blues’ newly-promoted U23 side in the PL2 this season (the level above the Professional Development League), including in a 3-0 win at Boro in which he registered an assist.
@redcarred; Thanks for that information, about Djed Spence. I realise these decisions are capable of being complicated. It's not just "do we like him as a player, or not?"
A number of factors will apply when considering whether or not to recall a player like DS. Would he get a game if he came back, right now? (maybe if Isiah Jones were injured but we hope that will not happen). How is he playing for the team he is loaned to? (If he is playing well there and getting games which he isn't guaranteed if he returned here, that will be increasing his experience and his value if sold, unless the loan deal had a price agreed if a sale went ahead after or during the loan period). What was the previous experience of him as a player/squad member at Boro? (If he was "difficult" or "had issues" on or off the pitch/training field that will presumably be known to the backroom staff and if it was felt his return might upset the applecart, that would be a consideration). If he stays on loan, how does that affect Boro's finances? (If the deal is that Forest pays all his wages then, depending on how much he receives, then even 6 months of that might free up a chunk of money to help pay for other players - though if we are paying FORTY GRAND a week for our incoming loan player from Arsenal, Spence's wages will be small fry in comparison).
Another factor touched on previously in this thread is that Chris Wilder seems to "improve" players. Maybe that is down to what happens on the training pitch, maybe it is the tactics employed in all of the teams, maybe it is the confidence CW and his staff are giving to the players, maybe it is simply good "man-management" - but whatever it is, it seems to work. Many of our players seem to be better now than under Neil Warnock. So you might wonder what Djed Spence could become under Wilder.
Then again, if the club receives a good enough offer, it will have to take into account how long Spence has left on his contract, how settled (or not) he was in this area, and what the longer term financial needs of Boro are.
I am part of the way through watching "Sunderland 'til I die" on Netflix (I think). Clearly a dressing room which is carrying passengers gives a poisonous atmosphere and poor results. Relegated from the Premier League, Sunderland - where I'm up to in the series to which I recognise I have come late - are now about to be relegated again to Tier Three. Rodwell is said to have been "earning" £70K a WEEK from the Premier League, with several years left on his contract and no reduction-if-relegated clause. Having been relegated he made it clear he didn't want to be at the club but equally didn't want to move out unless to a club which could match his wages - effectively a Premier League club then, but nobody would want a player who'd been happy to sit on the sidelines and whose performances when he had played in the past clearly didn't justify Premier League wages. He was content to sit in the stands and collect his pay until the contract ran out. Watching the "deadline day" discussions/moves/loans situation for Sunderland was painful. If you can't afford the players you need, because of the collapse in the club finances as a result of the descent in the club's playing fortunes, there's not a lot a manager can do. Carthorses don't win The Derby.
The rest of the players haven't, so far in the series, been able to stem the steady collapse of the club. Confidence both in the dressing room and in the stadium had disappeared. A toxic situation from which, as we all know, Sunderland has STILL not yet recovered despite being a "big club too good for Tier 3".
The lesson is that no club is too big, or too good, to go down. It's what happens on the pitch that counts. Only the players can put the ball in the net, or stop it going into their own net. And moving from successful to unsuccessful doesn't take long. Thank goodness Boro seems to be going in the right direction.
I am now listening to Chris Wilder's Press Conference on the Club Website (or it may have been via Twitter - I can't remember the route I followed!). I should have saved myself some typing time by listening to the conference first, rather than sending the 3.09pm post...
A meeting took place today to discuss the future of Roma full-back Davide Santon.
Middlesbrough, who are reportedly interested, were one of the clubs that were mentioned.
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Wilder wants two more permanent signings and Folarin Balogun signing
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I thought Santon had retired as I haven't heard of him playing much football over the last few years. Just checked and he seems to average 12 to 15 games a season over the last five years or so. Not sure what he would bring apart from a huge wage demand and questionable fitness and reliability.
Middlesbrough appears to have won the race for Folarin Balogun with reports that the 20-year-old star is joining them on loan for the rest of this season.
The striker broke into the Arsenal senior team at the end of last season and signed a contract extension with the club.
Some feedback I’ve received is that it’s only the Arsenal influence that makes him of interest and that this who’ve played against him don’t think he’s very special! Hmmmm.
We’ll just have to wait and see won’t we ???
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If we really are going to be paying his £40K wages PER WEEK, I hope he is very special indeed. At our level that is a massive wage.
I agree his wages seem to be excessive when Boro have spent the last three years reducing the wake bill to acceptable levels.
Not wishing to our a dampener on his signing I just wanted to make the point that his signing has made some eyebrows be raised at the Boro !
One debutant who made a good impression to day was young Joe Gibson who made his first team debut at the age of 20. Gibson has been with the club since the age of 9 and is highly regarded.
Chris Wilder wants Middlesbrough's youngsters to see a pathway to the first-team, with Joe Gibson's recent squad promotion evidence of that.
The versatile academy midfielder was included after catching the eye of the manager
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Interesting article, highly recommended reading.
@redcarred That’s such an interesting article although I can’t say I understand all of it. I wonder what a similar appraisal of NW’s tactics would show.
@redcarred Thanks for that RR. Now I understand perfectly why we have been relatively successful under CW. Not sure what happened today though.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
We had a lot of new/young players in the team and, perhaps, varying degrees of fitness after the Covid outbreak. We did also miss three absolute sitters at various stages of the game, including just before half time which would have made it 3-0.
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Does seem an awful lot of money. I see CW is talking about two more loan players. If Balogun arrives then we will have 5 loan players, and you can only have 5 in the match day squad. So are we going to be sending one of the current loanees back ? JLS possibly?
@mw-in-darwin Or Hernandez? UTB!
If it's a straight choice between JLS or Hernandez then I think it's clear who will be returning but I guess it's down to the small print in the loan contracts.
Arsenal have announced that Folarin has COVID which will delay any transfer
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Lewis Wing is in talks with Middlesbrough about mutually terminating his contract this January allowing him to sign for Sheffield Wednesday on a permanent contract.
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