Middlesbrough transfer dilemma decided amid £1.5m Leeds United agreement | OneFootball

Having missed out on the Championship play-offs this season, Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick will have spent the last few weeks making preparations ahead of the summer transfer window.

One of those decisions has been whether or not to trigger a permanent deal for Leeds United loanee Sam Greenwood, and it has been decided that the two parties are instead set to go their different ways.

With first-team players in Greenwood's position set to be coming back fit for pre-season, as well as academy starlets beginning to shine, the former Manchester United midfielder and his hierarchy have opted against activating the clause in Greenwood's contract that would bring him to Teesside permanently.

Sam Greenwood will not be signing for Middlesbrough on a permanent basis

Middlesbrough signed the Leeds youngster on loan at the tail end of last summer's transfer window to help form part of the plan to replace Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer, who had fired Boro to the play-offs in 2022/23.

In his season with the club from North Yorkshire, the 22-year-old has featured in attacking midfield, on the left wing and even as a striker, proving to be a very versatile option.

However, despite his flexible talents being shown across 38 matches in the second tier, with five goals and three assists racked up, Boro and Carrick have agreed to look into other potential targets as well as assess what their current crop can bring in 2024/25.

This news regarding Greenwood's loan deal was reported this morning by the Northern Echo, who stated that Middlesbrough would opt against activating a £1.5 million buy clause in the loan deal they agreed with Leeds last summer.

The fee of this buy clause was first reported by The Athletic in October 2023, and at that time it looked to be brilliant business as Greenwood had started life at Riverside very brightly, displaying his clear goalscoring abilities and eventually showing how adept he is with set-pieces.

However, a fall off in form has perhaps helped Carrick and Boro come to this decision today and shift their focus towards targets who can potentially deliver consistently to help boost the team back towards the playoffs and fighting for promotion.

Michael Carrick will look for other Middlesbrough transfer targets and in-house options

With his decision now made by Carrick and the club, Middlesbrough will be looking to utilise the smart and savvy transfer tactics they have seemingly deployed in the last few transfer windows to help replace Greenwood, as well as others.

They have already brought in the impressive figure of Finn Azaz who, in his short time at The Riverside so far has slotted into the team and made the attacking midfield spot his own, but they are still yet to fully replace the January outgoings of Matt Crooks and Morgan Rogers.

While it could be argued that Isaiah Jones has done well deputising following Rogers' departure, he has had to be a mainstay in the team and avoid injuries, as other attacking options such as Riley McGree and Marcus Forss have failed to avoid the treatment room this term.

Therefore, Carrick will need to recruit suitable depth to ease the workload and avoid a repeat of this season.

He does have the option of bringing youngster Alex Gilbert into the fold during the off-season, as the Irishman looked comfortable within the team during his run-outs in late-season games against Watford and Cardiff City.

So far though, since the Championship season ended last Saturday, there have been no concrete links between Boro and attacking talents both in the EFL, the Premier League and abroad.

However, knowing how well Carrick and Boro did in recruiting the likes of Akpom and Archer, as well as the more recent signings of Latte Lath and Azaz, Middlesbrough fans can feel eased knowing that Carrick will have a plan for this window and will want to improve upon the season just gone.