Middlesbrough winger Onel Hernandez has had his loan deal cut short, allowing him to join Birmingham City in the coming days, the club have confirmed.
Middlesbrough signed Hernandez in the summer on loan from Premier League side Norwich City after being seen as surplus to requirements at Carrow Road.
Since arriving he has played 18 times for Boro, starting nine of those, and scoring one goal in the process.
But with Chris Wilder taking over the reigns from Neil Warnock and deploying a 3-5-2 formation with wing-backs, the system isn’t necessarily suited for Hernandez at the Riverside.
He has been utilised as a left wing-back and as a striker alongside Andraz Sporar, but the Boro boss believes he would be better suited elsewhere.
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This comes at a time when the Teessiders have brought in two new forward players in Brighton and Hove Albion’s Aaron Connolly and Arsenal’s Folarin Balogun, and so Hernandez would find himself down the pecking order if he remained at the club.
Instead of returning to Norwich, the Cuban will make remain in the Championship and make the switch to the midlands with Birmingham.
Lee Bowyer’s side are in need of a creative spark in a bid of propelling themselves up the table and clear of the relegation zone. At present they reside in 18th place and eight points above the bottom three.
It is not known whether Hernandez will be registered in time to make his Blues debut this weekend. Birmingham take on Preston North End at Deepdale tomorrow.
