Middlesbrough’s Head of Football has already made a decision that will prevent the club from signing a player today.
Boro’s 2023/24 campaign did not go quite to plan for several seasons.
The most notable was injury issues, with Michael Carrick having to make do without an average of 6.5 players for every Championship fixture last term.
Another key problem at the Riverside Stadium going into the previous season was Boro lost a good chunk of their top stars in the summer of 2023.
Chuba Akpom left for Ajax after scoring a staggering 29 goals in all competitions – the most of any Middlesbrough player since 1996/97.
Elsewhere, Ryan Giles, Aaron Ramsey and Cameron Archer all returned to their parent clubs after loan spells.
The trio were crucial to Middlesbrough finishing fourth in the Championship that season but as the Reds could not sign them permanently, their squad quality was greatly hampered ahead of last season.
This led Head of Football Kieran Scott to make a decision this summer that will now cost Boro a chance to sign a player.
Kieran Scott makes Middlesbrough transfer decision
After missing out on the playoffs last term and losing so many big names, Scott changed his approach to the transfer market.
Back in June, as per Teesside Live, the Boro chief confirmed the club will now only sign players if there is a real chance to make it a permanent transfer.
This is something we saw happen with Luke Ayling, who secured a free transfer to the Riverside earlier this summer.
Scott said: “You can still loan, but we have to be smarter than loaning everyone’s best young players who have five years left on their deals and you’re never going to get them after that.
“Luke Ayling, he was coming to the end of his contract, we knew we could sign him, there was an end-game there.
“Sam Greenwood, we had an option there. Luke Thomas we could have done a similar situation. Lewis O’Brien was desperate to stay but that was difficult (financially).
“There are a couple this year we’re looking at. There could be a couple of loans but there’ll be a future with them.”
Middlesbrough set to miss out on Tom Cannon transfer
While it is easy to see why Scott has taken that stance after Boro were burned last summer, it does mean the club can no longer sign one of their transfer targets today.
It emerged yesterday that Middlesbrough were eyeing a move for Tom Cannon, who Liam Rosenior has previously labelled ‘brilliant’ as per the Lancashire Post.
Now, however, Alan Nixon has provided a fresh update on Cannon’s potential Leicester City exit today on his Patreon, in which he confirmed the striker now only wants to go out on loan, rather than leave the King Power Stadium permanently.
He wrote: “Leicester City striker Tom Cannon wants to go on loan – after the Foxes tried to sell him before the window.
“And that will open the door for several clubs to try for the Republic of Ireland international forward. Leicester had offers from Luton, Hull, Sunderland and Middlesbrough for Cannon as they looked to cash in a year after buying him.
“However the chance of a loan appeals more to the player who has four years left on his contract. And that also lets Cannon choose where he wants to play, with the best game time and prospect of promotion on his list of priorities.”
As a result, Middlesbrough will now likely miss out on Cannon, thanks to Scott’s decision not to loan players he cannot then sign permanently.