Middlesbrough sit in 4th place of the Championship table after a 1-0 defeat at Rotherham United last night.
It was a disappointing defeat for Michael Carrick’s side, who’ve now lost their last two in the league. But they already have a play-off spot in the bag and they’ll be hoping to use next Monday’s home game v Coventry City as play-off practise. And ahead of Monday’s final day of the Championship season, Middlesbrough have been involved in a few headlines, with one of them linking the club with a permanent move for Aston Villa loan man Cameron Archer.
The 21-year-old has featured 19 times in the Championship since joining on loan in January, scoring an impressive 10 goals whilst also racking up six assists for the club. A report from The Sun last weekend revealed that Boro are keen on a permanent move for the Englishman, but that parent club Villa will command at least £20million for his services.
Another transfer story coming out of the Riverside is that Crystal Palace are readying a move for star striker Chuba Akpom. The 2022/23 Championship Player of the Season leads the scoring charts with 28 goals in 37 league outings this season, and Palace are one of a number of teams to have been linked. But TEAMtalk revealed yesterday that the Eagles are ‘ready to launch a move’ for the 27-year-old this summer.
Lastly, and in more bad news for Boro, Carrick was without Ryan Giles and Jonny Howson for last night’s defeat v Rotherham, with the Boro boss revealing after the game:
“Giles got a knock in training, so he’d been out for a few days. We’ll have to wait and see how he is.”
Carrick continued:
“Jonny got injured in the warm-up, he had a pain in the back of his knee, top of his calf, again we’ll have to wait and see.”
Carrick also said that he’s unsure when Dael Fry and Aaron Ramsey might return to action, so Middlesbrough could have a few key players sidelined ahead of Monday’s season finale v Coventry City.
