Chris Wilder makes claim over future of key Middlesbrough player amid recent West Ham links | OneFootball

Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder had insisted that Dael Fry has the quality to play in the Premier League in the future and feels he has all the qualities that he wants in his defenders.

Wilder’s arrival at the Riverside Stadium will mean a change to the job that Fry is asked to do for Middlesbrough in the back three. The defender will have more responsibility to distribute the ball out from the back and help set up attacks for Boro than he had during Neil Warnock’s time in charge of the club.

Fry is a player that has been attracting plenty of transfer interest for a while now, with Burnley having previously had the defender on their radar before they signed Nathan Collins from Stoke City in the summer. Warnock was able to keep hold of the 24-year-old and Wilder will now be hoping that he is able to do the same as well.

Football League World has recently revealed that West Ham have emerged as the latest club to hold an interest in Fry. That comes with the Hammers placing the Middlesbrough defender on their shortlist of targets to potentially come in and replace Angelo Ogbonna, following a long-term injury setback.

Speaking to Teesside Live, Wilder has now insisted that he feels Fry has the quality to be able to make it into the Premier League in the near future. He also added that he feels the 24-year-old has all the qualities he looks for in his defenders.

He said “Dael’s got all the qualities I want. Can Dael play at the top of this division? Without a shadow of a doubt. Can he play in the top division? Yes. But we’ll all think that. I’ll think I can manage in the top division – it’s up to the players to have that ambition and then prove it.”

The verdict

Fry was a firm favourite under Warnock at Middlesbrough and it seems that Wilder has also recognised the quality that the 24-year-old possesses as well with these comments. You would have to agree that there is every chance that he could make the step up to the top-flight if his game can be developed in the right way by the former Sheffield United boss.

The defender though, as Wilder suggests, must continue to show consistency and develop his performances with and without the ball if he is to make it in the Premier League one day. That means that he has to keep delivering on the field for Boro and he could even be part of a squad that takes the club back up into the top-flight.

Middlesbrough will hope that West Ham do not come calling for Fry in January because it would be a difficult move for him to turn down given the direction that the Hammers are heading in at the moment.

However, Wilder could be crucial in Boro’s ability to keep hold of him because he might be able to convince him the club are heading in the right direction.