Not much on the boro Front

Not a great deal has being going on at Boro since the signing of Tuncay Sanli, or atleast not a great deal has been publicised. The only news I can dig out to tell is that the Boro are looking to sign the Icelandic international defender Gretta Steinsson from AZ Alkmaar for £2 million. AZ had originally valued the right back at £4 million, but seem to be caving in to a lower fee in order to get business done.
Also, whilst I had been opposed to Liverpool signing Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid, because Atletico are my Second team, I now have mixed feelings about it because I have read today that if a deal does go through then Liverpool may be open to offers for their lanky England striker, Peter Crouch, whom Boro boss Gareth Southgate is interested in adding to his squad following the upset of failing to secure a move for Alan Smith, after the player announced that he would only be interested in a move to a club playing European football.

Tuncay on Board

Photo Courtesy of MFC Official Site

Turkish International Tuncay Sanli has signed for Boro, now subject to him being granted a
work permit. Boro Chief Executive, Kieth Lamb, anticipates no problems in him being granted the permit and is delighted to finally have the Turk on board, "We're delighted that Tuncay has committed his future to Middlesbrough. He is a major star in Turkey so it is a big coup for us to have signed a player of his quality on a free transfer."
Sanli spent the last 2 days at Boro's Rockliffe Park
training facility and has now returned home for a break before joining up with the Boro for their pre-season tour of Austria.
The MFC official site has reported that Tuncay requested to be given the number 17 shirt, the same number he wears for the Turkish national side.

2nd Signing

Boro completed their second transfer of the summer yesterday as Jeremie Aliadiere signed a 3 year deal with an option on a fourth year after that.
It has now been revealed that the deal cost Boro £2million, but they have finally got the man that they have been trying to bring in since last season.

Smith?

Sky sports have reported that Boro are set to make inquiries about Manchester United striker, Alan Smith. It has been made clear that United are not going to offer Smith a new contract after a poor run following a series of frustrating injuries and rumour has it that Boro boss Gareth Southgate is making inquiries about the player's availability.
Unwanted as it may be for many of the Boro faithful, it appears set that Yakubu will be leaving the riverside after just 2 seasons, with his former club Portsmouth, seemingly leading the chase to bring him in. Yakubu's departure would leave Southgate on the back foot despite having agreed deals for Jeremie Aliadiere and Tuncay Sanli, as there would only be 3 strikers left at the club. But if Boro could seal a move for Smith then they would be back up to 4 and with a massive overhaul of Boro's striking force. Each of the strikers will have been a Southgate acquisition, with Dong Gook Lee arriving last January.
Meanwhile, Everton are attempting a bid for Boro and England Winger Stewart Downing. It has been known for a long time that Tottenham have been highly interested in local Boro lad, Downing, but it has appeared that Everton are mounting an interest after inquiries, from Boro, about Everton striker James Beattie. But all Boro fans will not hesitate to make next season a tough one for Southgate, if he was foolish enough to let one of, if not the, most important Boro player leave in pursuit of, in my opinion, a hardly prolific goal scorer. I know Southgate wants to make this team his own and to revitalise the squad, but he would be taking it way too far, if not a massive leap in the wrong direction, by selling Downing who, as far as I am aware, is happy to be playing for his home town club and has stressed in the past that he has no desire of leaving the club despite interest from arguably 'bigger' clubs.

Let's Back The Boro

Actor and Boro Fan Mark Benton, who many people might recognize from those annoying Nationwide adverts, has pledged his commitment as a Boro fan, and has encouraged others to, by renewing their season tickets for next season.

This next season is being dubbed by chairman, Steve Gibson, and chief executive, Keith Lamb as a 'revolution' of the club. They both believe that Gareth Southgate is exercising his desire to revamp the team's image and the style of play and with news, released today by the Evening Gazette, that Boro have been quietly making a move for an unnamed "big-name international striker", Boro fans have every reason to be excited by what next season might hold for the club and have every reason to get behind the team by renewing their season tickets, so do it now!

Turkish Delight!

I know, cheesy title.



Following my post, the other day, about Boro making bids for Diomansy Kamara and Tuncay Sanli, more developments have emerged. The latter of the two front-men has agreed personal terms with the club, snubbing a deal with newly promoted Birmingham City.
The turkish striker will join the club, subject to him passing a medical exam and will be Gareth Southgate's 3rd signing of the summer, following the £7million signing of former Real Madrid defender and local lad, Jonathan Woodgate and the imminent arrival of pacey French forward Jeremie Aliadiere, from Arsenal.

Boro's attacking presence had dwindled since the end of the season following the releases of Malcolm Christie, Danny Graham and (Traitor) Mark Viduka, leaving only Yakubu, who was said to be unhappy at the club and South Korean Dong Gook Lee, both of whom have not scored goals in the last 3 months of the season. So the arrival of two new, pacey, forwards is beginning to inject excitement into the Boro faithful as pace and youth have not been traits that have been associated with Boro's strike force for quite some time. Finally a manager has come into the club who is prepared to make big sacrifices to change the team's appearance. Steve Mclaren vowed to change the way Boro played football and aimed to be more attacking but ended up failing in that, despite 2 hugely successful seasons in the UEFA cup. Now Gareth Southgate has come in and has immediately started getting rid of players that we don't need in order to improve and build a younger, faster squad. Although, that said, Middlesbrough do have one of the youngest squads in the premiership and are definitely one of, if not the, leading club when it comes down to breeding its own talent. Over the course of last season Boro fielded more than 13 home grown talents, some of which have become regular members of Southgate's first team, these included England winger Stewart Downing, Jonathan Woodgate, Stuart Parnaby, Andrew Taylor, Andrew Davies, James Morrison, Lee Cattermole and Adam Johnson

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I discovered this blog recently when searching for reviews on my favourite TV show at the moment, channel 5's PRISON BREAK!!
Sadly a super second season of the show has just finished, but according to imdb a 3rd series is due to start in August!! However, that is in the US so we British fans of the show will have to wait till probably the autumn time before we can get back to the action and, as in the 1st series, the second series has ended on a real cliff-hanger. Can't wait!

Head to Head

It has been announced that Boro and newly promoted premiership rivals Birmingham City are in a head to head battle to sign both West Bromwich Albion's Senegalese Striker, Diomansy Kamara, and Fenerbahce's Turkish forward Tuncay Sanli. Boro have already been linked with Kamara since before the end of last season and currently stand favourites to sign the front-man to replace Mark Viduka, so long as he doesn't agree to stay with the baggies; something that is looking increasingly unlikely. However, Boro will have to be prepared to pay more than the £3.5 million bid that, it has emerged, Birmingham had rejected by West Brom.
Meanwhile, Tuncay Sanli of Fenerbahce has been monitored by Birmingham and Manager Steve Bruce believes that he would be the perfect player to spear-head Birmingham's new premiership assault. It is also known that Birmingham have been putting together a bid for the player and a deal that might tempt the Turkish international, who announced that a move to England was his top priority for next season. However Boro appear to be attempting to hijack the deal with a 'Teesside delegation', from the club, said to be heading out to Istanbul to try and persuade the player in person to join Boro. Boro may have the upper hand on a number of fronts, however, as it is widely known that many clubs who are promoted to the top-flight are relegated again in their first season. But, perhaps more crucially, Sanli would be located just a short drive away from close friend and fellow country man Emre, who currently plays for Newcastle, though I'm sure that this second reason will not be any predominant reason for Sanli to turn down a move to the midlands.
Boro's Chief Executive Keith Lamb believes that Sanli would be an ideal replacement for Mark Viduka. With Arsenal's Jeremie Aliadiere already 'in the bag', Boro will be looking for a proven goal scorer,.

Brazilian Superstar Targetted

Boro were, last week, made aware of the availability of "The Next Ronaldinho". The Brazilian youngster is famous for his astounding 'Seal Dribble', where he will chip the ball up, catch it on his head and proceed to run whilst bouncing the ball off his head, during competitive matches; stunning and then beating his opponents.


Some more videos of the 19-year-old wizard at work... http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Kerlon&search=Search

Boro Bag Gunner

Middlesbrough FC today announced that Arsenal's 24-year-old French striker Jeremie Aliadiere has agreed, in principle, to join the club.
The striker, who bagged 4 goals last season for Arsenal, all of which came during a series of appearances in the club's Carling Cup run will complete his move within the next couple of weeks when he returns from his holiday.
Boro's chief executive, Keith Lamb "We have agreed a fee with Arsenal for Aliadiere and completed a deal with them...Everything is also agreed in principle with Jeremie and his transfer will be completed in the next couple of weeks, the only reason the deal hasn't already been completed is that the player is on holiday."

However the club have confessed that, whilst Aliadiere has the pace and youth that rookie boss Gareth Southgate wants to inject into his team, the striker is far from a replacement for recently departed hitman Mark Viduka. "Lamb made it clear that Boro do not see Aliadiere as a replacement for Mark Viduka, as he had been a transfer target many months before the Aussie's departure. But he believes the Rambouillet-born forward will prove a great addition to the Boro squad." - MFC official website.

Keith Lamb has also strongly denied recurring claims in the media that the club's second highest scorer of last season is unsettled and maybe following in Mark Viduka's footsteps and leaving the club. He insists that Nigerian Forward Yakubu Aiyegbeni will honour his contract with the club and fight for the position that he lost in the dying embers of last season, "We're looking forward to seeing Yak back for pre-season training and he's still very much part of our future."