Middlesbrough should embrace Everton, West Ham and Crystal Palace transfer interest: View | OneFootball

The end of the 2022/23 Championship campaign was a disappointing one for Middlesbrough.

Having come on strong following Michael Carrick's arrival at the club, Boro went on to finish fourth and achieve a play-off place, but there was only to be disappointment from there on in.

In the semi-finals, Boro faced Coventry City, the side whom they had finished one place above in the league standings, but despite this, the Sky Blues were the ones to prevail over the two legs, progressing to Wembley, whilst it was back to the drawing board for Michael Carrick.

Of course, the summer represented Carrick's first full, summer-long transfer window, and the Boro boss made the most of it.

As you can see above, there were 12 new additions at the Riverside Stadium in a mixture of loan and permanent deals, but one of those names, in particular, has gone on to prove a very real asset for the club. We are of course talking about Rav van den Berg.

Middlesbrough sign Rav van den Berg

The young Dutch defender put pen to paper at the Riverside Stadium early on last summer, with Middlesbrough announcing his capture on July 6th 2023, beating the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Roma and AC MIlan to his signature.

The then 18-year-old central defender signed for an undisclosed fee on a four-year deal that sees him tied down at the Riverside until 2027.

Despite starting the season being used at right-back, van den Berg assumed a more natural centre-back role in November, and has impressed ever since.

So much so that recently, Carrick handed the now 19-year-old defender the captain's armband for the club's away trip to Stoke City.

Premier League clubs eyeing Rav van den Berg

With seemingly increasing eyes on the EFL from the Premier League and other top-flight leagues in Europe, such things were never going to go unnoticed for long, and that was proven in recent days.

As per HITC, a number of Premier League clubs are now interested in a summer move for van den Berg, with the likes of Everton, West Ham United and Crystal Palace some of the standout names from the list.

Also credited with interest in the 19-year-old, though, are Bournemouth, Brentford, and Brighton and Hove Albion.

Middlesbrough should embrace van den Berg interest

Now, whilst it is no doubt disappointing for Middlesbrough that they could lose one of their emerging stars this summer, the club ought to embrace the fact that plenty of Premier League clubs are interested, and for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, Middlesbrough are most likely not going to win promotion this campaign. In fact, it would take a miraculous run for them to do so, with the side currently 12th in the division and ten points adrift of the play-offs.

If they do not go up, it will once again be back to the drawing board for Carrick, and like last summer, he and the club must accept that their best talent will attract interest. This is one reason Middlesbrough should in fact be thankful there is plenty of interest in van den Berg.

The club can use funds from a potential sale to further reinvigorate and invest in the playing squad at the Riverside Stadium, just as the funds received for Chuba Akpom were last summer.

When you sign a player being looked at by the likes of AC Milan, Roma and Borussia Dortmund in the Championship, you know that if you do not win promotion, eventually, if they perform, they will be moved on, and it feels as though that time has come after just one season here.

Furthermore, the fact that there are so many clubs keen is absolutely great news for Middlesbrough.

Were there just one interested side, said club may try to lowball Boro, or prolong negotiations to get themselves a better deal. However, with so many clubs keen, any side wanting to play that game will simply miss out.

If so many sides are interested, Boro can afford to reject those first few bids, thus potentially driving up the price of the player, and in an ideal world, starting somewhat of a bidding war.

Indeed, if van den Berg is going to attract interest, it should be the more, the merrier as far as Middlesbrough are concerned.

Lastly, the fact that the likes of Everton, West Ham and Crystal Palace are all Premier League sides should further please Middlesbrough.

Although the European clubs previously interested in van den Berg may be bigger names, with Premier League finances at their disposal, the above clubs may have more spending power, particularly when it comes to younger players they're taking a bit of a gamble on as opposed to established top-flight stars.

In recent years, we have seen multiple eight-figure transfer deals from the EFL to the Premier League, and van den Berg could be the latest.

For that reason, and the others listed above, Middlesbrough should embrace transfer interest in Rav van den Berg heading into the summer.

That way, they can secure the best deal for the club, and re-invest those funds to improve the squad once again this summer.