Leeds United will be hopeful for Middlesbrough purple patch to seal £1.5m deal: View | OneFootball

The summer of 2023 proved to be a tricky window for Middlesbrough in terms of their attack.

With Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer having been fantastic for the club in 2022/23, Boro needed to replace both of them in the summer window.

Archer had returned to his parent club Aston Villa and would eventually make a permanent move to newly-promoted Sheffield United, whilst Akpom made an eight-figure move to Dutch giants Ajax.

The club brought in a few options, one of which, late in the window, was Sam Greenwood from Leeds United.

Middlesbrough sign Sam Greenwood

With it clear that game time at Elland Road was going to be extremely limited to non-existent, Leeds loaned out Greenwood, with the player able to play as striker as well as attacking midfielder.

At the time, the move was simply announced as a loan deal. However, it later transpired that Middlesbrough have the option to make the deal permanent in the summer.

As per The Athletic, Michael Carrick's side can make Greenwood's stay at the Riverside Stadium permanent this summer for £1.5 million.

Sam Greenwood's season so far

For Middlesbrough to make that deal permanent, they are going to want to see impressive performances from Greenwood, but he has had a mixed season at the club so far.

Having been eased into the side initially, when given a run of starts, he impressed, scoring four league goals in his first seven starts.

However, since then, he has only added one more to his tally, with five goals and three assists to his name as of late March.

Perhaps more concerningly, since midway through last month, Greenwood has lost his place as a starter in Carrick's XI, starting just one of the club's last seven Championship matches.

Leeds United will hope for Greenwood purple patch

With Greenwood not starting at present, you would be inclined to suggest that currently, if they had to make the decision today, Middlesbrough may not opt to take up their option on the 22-year-old.

That is not good news for his parent club Leeds United, though, who would surely love to cash in on Greenwood this summer, whether they go on to secure promotion to the Premier League or not.

The fact that Greenwood was loaned out last summer, even with the club in such an uncertain place showed that he had no real future at Elland Road, and his performances for Middlesbrough have not been anywhere near the level that would be required to make Daniel Farke think twice about allowing him to move on.

Frustratingly for Leeds, if Middlesbrough do not take up their option, Greenwood remains contracted to the club for a further two years, which means they are financially committed to an unwanted player for quite some time yet.

Given that Greenwood hasn't blown anyone away at Middlesbrough so far may make it harder to move him on once again this summer, too.

As above, then, the best Leeds can hope for is a purple patch of form for Greenwood between now and the end of the season.

His campaign at the Riverside has been mixed so far, but a strong end to the campaign could convince Boro to part ways with the £1.5 million required to make his deal permanent.

Were the fee bigger, the chances of the deal would be far less likely, but £1.5 million is not a huge fee, even at this level, if Boro feel he is worth it.

A strong end to the season could tip the scales towards a permanent deal. However, Greenwood will have to force his way back into Carrick's starting plans first if he really wants to impress in the coming weeks.