One Middlesbrough man is open to extending his stay at the Riverside Stadium.
Boro had a hectic 2024 summer transfer window that saw nine new players arrive through the door.
While all those fresh faces have given Michael Carrick plenty of quality depth in each position, the competition for places is now much higher.
Micah Hamilton is struggling for game time at Middlesbrough following his £3.5m move from Manchester City over the summer.
The right-winger is competing with three more players for a starting berth and is finding it hard to usurp the likes of Isaiah Jones and Ben Doak in the pecking order.
Another area Boro have a lot of options in or should do when everyone is back from injury, is centre-back.
Dael Fry, Darragh Lenihan and Rav van den Berg are sidelined currently, which led Middlesbrough to sign George Edmundson on a six-month loan from Ipswich Town on deadline day.
George Edmundson makes Middlesbrough future admission
Edmundson has been learning from Jonathan Woodgate since his arrival in the North East last month.
The stopper made his Boro debut this past weekend during the 1-1 draw with Preston North End.
The Ipswich loanee looked sharp and Kieran Scott has hinted at a long-term future at Middlesbrough for Edmundson.
He said: “January he’ll have six months left, next summer he’ll be out of contract – so let’s see how George does and we’ll take it from there.”
Now, as per Teesside Live, Edmundson has admitted he has to perform if he wants to earn a new contract, with his current Ipswich deal set to expire in 2025.
He said: “I am out of contract next year so I am playing for my next deal, no one wants to be a free agent.
“So I need to perform, play well and hopefully achieve something here and who knows, you want to play at the biggest and the best clubs. But all I can do is perform, forget about that and what comes will come.”
Should Middlesbrough sign George Edmundson permanently
At this stage of the season, it is hard to gauge if a permanent move for the stopper would be worth it for Boro.
Given his contract situation, Edmundson, who earns £9,000-a-week, would be available for cheap if Middlesbrough attempted to make his loan a permanent one in January.
Alternatively, as the 27-year-old has already played for two English clubs this season, he cannot be loaned out to another EFL side in 2024/25.
As a result, rather than being forced into a permanent transfer, Boro could extend his loan in the winter window as unless Kieran McKenna is going to start playing him regularly in the Premier League, which seems unlikely, Edmundson will have nowhere else to play football in the second half of this season.
This is probably the best option for Boro as it does not force them to spend any money on a player who will likely be surplus to requirements if Carrick is able to win promotion this term.