Middlesbrough: Michael Carrick has 2024/25 wildcard he's a big fan of: View | OneFootball

Sonny Finch has been impressing in Middlesbrough's academy for some time, and he could be set to make the step-up to Boro's first team in 2024/25.

Highlights

Middlesbrough have long been reported to be in the market for a centre-forward this summer, but academy graduate Sonny Finch is a player that Boro head coach Michael Carrick is a 'big fan' of, and could force his way into the first team picture this season.

It's been no secret that Carrick and Middlesbrough's head of football Kieran Scott are looking at bringing in another centre-forward during this summer transfer window, with numerous reports from outlets such as The Northern Echo having detailed this as early as May.

Emmanuel Latte Lath is Middlesbrough's clear first-choice option, after his 18-goal debut season on Teesside cemented his role as Boro's number nine of the future, but the club don't appear to be sold on their strength in depth behind the Ivorian.

However, Teesside Live have recently revealed that Boro may well be having a rethink on how they want to address their need for striking reinforcements, and in highly-rated teenage striker Finch, their solution could be right under their noses.

Finch has been impressing for some time

Having been with Middlesbrough since U12 level, Finch's talent and potential has been common knowledge to those tuned into English academy football for some time, with the youngster earning eight caps for England at various youth levels.

He's been finding the back of the net at a highly impressive rate for Boro's academy sides, with seven goals in eight appearances across various youth team competitions in 2023/24.

As a mark of how highly thought of he is at the Riverside, Carrick was quick to hand Finch a long-term contract extension last summer, just 12 months after signing his first professional contract with the club.

That means Finch is contracted to Middlesbrough for two more years, with the club holding the option to extend that for a further 12 months too.

Having made over 60 appearances for Boro at academy level, Finch has proven himself to be one of the club's standout prospects for the future, and looks to be among the crop of players that includes the likes of Law McCabe, who look ready to play their part at senior level.

Carrick is a 'big' Finch fan

Finch has been a player that Carrick has always been aware of since his arrival as Middlesbrough boss back in October 2022, and has already made five first team appearances for the club.

It more than likely would've been more than that at this stage if the England youth international hadn't missed a sizeable amount of time following ankle surgery last season, but now back to full fitness, Finch is impressing once again.

The 18-year-old was part of a select group of academy players chosen to travel with the first team on their week-long trip to Portugal in early-mid July, and in Boro's first pre-season game on home soil vs Bolton Wanderers, Finch would score the second of Boro's three goals.

Speaking to the club website via The Northern Echo after the game, Carrick would say on Finch: “He’s got a really terrible knack of finding the back of the net, hasn’t he.

"He finds himself in good positions, and I even thought he might have scored with the other chance he had, knowing what he’s like. He always finds himself in those good positions.

"He’s had a stop-start time over the last year or 18 months with injuries, but we’ll try and keep him fit and give him good experiences. I’m sure the goal will have been good for him."

The Boro boss was then asked about his plans for Finch for next season, to which he replied: "We can have him with us, and that’ll be good for him to learn. He’ll benefit from being part of the group.

"He’s been unlucky with injuries, so we’ll be trying to get him into that routine of getting through training sessions and playing in games. That’ll help take his game to another level, but at this stage, we’ll have to see what happens.

"He’s doing a lot of good things at the moment. We’ll keep trying to develop and improve him, and then make the best choice of what the next step is for him.

"Each individual is different. Just because one player goes out on loan, it doesn’t mean that’s the best thing for a different player in a similar position. It’s important we get that choice right. We’ll see. I can’t really commit either way at this stage.”

From that, it appears evident that Carrick would be comfortable and trusting of Finch to make the step-up to first team football on a full-time basis in 2024/25, in what could mean the club could save some precious transfer funds too.

The Boro boss hasn't been afraid to hand opportunities to young players if they're good enough, and Finch could well be the next beneficiary of this.