I thought we paid £7m and that his release clause was £18m.
Andraz Sporar has left Sporting Lisbon according to Teesside Live.
He has packed up his belongings a week early and headed for Slovenia now where he is effectively undergoing a period in isolation ahead of the international break where his country have three World Cup qualifiers in seven days.
After the Internationals Sporar will travel to Teesside from Croatia in order to start his career at the Riverside. He'll be available to make his debut for Boro’s in the first game back after the break at Coventry City on September 11.
Up the Boro!
you may be right about the release clause but either way it was an excellent piece of business for the club and I remember that there were plenty of fans who would have given him away for a lot less before he finally came through so well. I’ve never understood the amount of complaints that there have been about his sale when it was out of the clubs hands. Yes, they negotiated the release clause but it enabled them to get the player and make a substantial profit.
UTB
Looks as if the van Bergen transfer will not now proceed:
😎
Yes I just noticed that
Sources: Club hijack Middlesbrough deal for Van Bergen as fee agreed
Stade Reims have hijacked the Middlesbrough deal for winger Mitchell Van Bergen, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.
The 21-year-old has been on the verge of joining the Championship side after they submitted a second bid for him.
OFB
....presumably with a few bottles of champagne. I'm not sure what Teesside has to offer to compare with Reims.
UTB
....presumably with a few bottles of champagne. I'm not sure what Teesside has to offer to compare with Reims.
A Manager that wants him would have been a great start!
I'd never heard of the lad a few weeks ago so can't pretend to be utterly devastated but we do need bodies in and it doesn't help if a Manager opens his mouth and his brains fall out or worse still it was intended and deliberate to derail things. Where to go after that is a difficult one for SG.
There will have been a lot of time and effort gone into the MVB deal so hopefully Neil can pop up with a quick and better ready made solution who is under 30 and hasn't spent the last 18 months in a drug rehab unit or intensive care having a Hamstring transplant. I'm sure there must be more ex Cardiff crocks that we haven't been linked with yet.
I'm just waiting for Robert Earnshaw to come out of retirement to do his old gaffer a favour!
What a wonderful performance by Michail Antonio in his demolition of Leicester last night. And what a fantastic post-match interview, one of the best ever.
As someone who said on here that we should buy him seven years ago before we committed the ultimate folly on gifting £7 million to West Ham for Downing, which gave the Hammers the funds to buy the ex-Nottingham Forest man, might I now suggest that we invest a million or two in the cut-out cardboard figure of the striker, which Hammers' fans produced to celebrate his becoming the club's top Premier League goalscorer.
In terms of prescience, I do, of course, bow the knee to Redcar Red who said at about the same time that we should go for Harry Maguire, then a little known Sheffield United defender, for a couple of million smackers.
It's a fair bet that had we signed either or both of those stalwarts we would now be a very different club from the rather sad one we now appear to be.
Another two that can join OFB as regional talent spotters for MFC, well done lads.
Come on BORO.
Burnley are interested in Middlesbrough forward Marcus Tavernier, according to the Daily Mail.
OFB
I can’t see Tavernier going anywhere.
I don’t think he has the numbers to attract a big transfer fee and I don’t see us accepting anything other than an offer we can’t refuse.
I think if the number was high enough the Club would listen to offers for Tav. He definitely has talent but is very poor with his decision making and hasn't been fit for long enough to nail down a place in the Team. When fit of course he is almost a nailed on starter but therein lies the problem, when fit.
For the right money I think they would cash in but that in itself could bring another problem if NW wants to spend it on some ex Cardiff crock.
Fitness is another reason why we won't get an offer we can't refuse.
Burnley? With their record of success with players from Boro, no matter how talented, he'd be mad to make a career move there.
UTB,
John
Andraz Sporar will travel to England today to complete his Boro loan move (A Bola - Portugal)
OFB
I see that Paddy Bamford has been called up to the England squad. I’ll admit that I thought his lack of pace might stop him getting to that level but I hold my hand up - Leeds have made more of a player out of him than Boro, Burnley or a handful of other clubs could do.
I see that Paddy Bamford has been called up to the England squad. I’ll admit that I thought his lack of pace might stop him getting to that level but I hold my hand up - Leeds have made more of a player out of him than Boro, Burnley or a handful of other clubs could do.
I'm not sure if I may have perhaps mentioned this before but I thought us selling Bamford wasn't a very clever decision at the time.
OFB I see your “bestie” Andy Campbell has been made manager of MFC ladies team, does this mean you won’t be to scout for MFC because your going to be his number 2 🤔
Come on BORO.
Back to Echo Valley then. All great prophets are generally ignored in their lifetime and there's a lot of prophets on here.
UTB,
John
Stories coming out of France that we are looking at James Lea Siliki a 6ft Left sided defensive midfielder according to Tranfermarkt. He plays for Stade Rennais and is 25 years old.
Stade Rennais midfielder James Léa Siliki looks set to sign for Middlesbrough. (Karim Bennani - L’Equipe - France)
So it looks like there’s a few stories going round
OFB
It hasn’t been announced yet so don’t tell anyone !
OFB
I hope it’s true 🙂 but on a serious note, I’d like to see MFC have a serious go at building a strong women’s team. They do so much in the community and it would be good to see them going this extra step.
utbw
Middlesbrough have opened talks to sign Sheffield United star Oliver Burke, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.
The north-east outfit have turned their attention to the versatile forward, 24, as they look to strengthen their attack by Tuesday’s cut-off.
OFB
Middlesbrough have opened talks to sign Sheffield United star Oliver Burke, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.
The north-east outfit have turned their attention to the versatile forward, 24, as they look to strengthen their attack by Tuesday’s cut-off.
OFB
Not exactly a ringing endorsement:
When he broke on the scene he looked to have a great future but it's all gone downhill since his time in Germany.
He certainly very, very quick and quite physical. He suits Warnock-ball but seems to be one of those players who is forever raw.