Ranking the 7 best Middlesbrough FC wingers in the 21st century - Adama Traore = 3rd | OneFootball

Highlights

Middlesbrough are aiming to fight for promotion to the Premier League this season.

Boro narrowly missed out on a place back in the top flight last year after they finished fourth in the table.

A play-off semi-final defeat to Coventry City consigned the Teesside club to another year in the second tier.

Michael Carrick has shown a lot of promise as a manager since taking the reins at the Riverside, with supporters hoping he is the man to lead the team back to the top flight.

Middlesbrough are currently in the mix for a play-off place in the early stages of this season, but there is still a long way to go to decide the promotion spots.

Here we take a look back at the best wingers to play for the club in the 21st century…

7 Isaiah Jones

Jones has proven a versatile player for Middlesbrough since breaking into the first team squad at the Riverside.

Deployed across the right flank, as well as on the left wing, he has had his ups and downs in Boro form.

However, he is proving a key part of Carrick’s squad as they chase promotion to the top flight.

6 Aaron Ramsey

Ramsey spent a very brief time on loan with Middlesbrough during the 2022-23 campaign, but he proved an excellent addition to the squad all the same.

Ramsey arrived on loan from Aston Villa, and contributed five goals and one assist to help the club earn a play-off place.

5 Duncan Watmore

Watmore signed for Middlesbrough in 2020 after departing Sunderland earlier in the year.

The forward contributed 21 goals from 92 appearances, helping the club compete for promotion to the Premier League.

The 29-year-old departed the Riverside for Millwall in the 2023 January transfer window.

4 Albert Adomah

Adomah joined Middlesbrough in 2013 from Bristol City and went on to feature over 130 times for the club over a three-year period.

He contributed 23 goals and 13 assists in the league during his three seasons in the Championship, including six and five in the club’s 2016 promotion campaign.

The now 35-year-old departed Boro in 2016, signing for Aston Villa.

Traoré signed for Boro from Villa in 2016, going in the opposite direction as Adomah as the Teesside outfit prepared for life back in the top flight.

While Aitor Karanka’s side did suffer relegation to the Championship at the first attempt, Troaré still stood out as an exciting talent.

He contributed five goals and 11 assists in the league during his two years at the Riverside, before departing for Wolves in 2018.

2 Tuncay Sanli

Tuncay signed for Boro in the summer of 2007 from Turkish giants Fenerbahce.

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The now 41-year-old spent two years with Middlesbrough as the club suffered relegation to the Championship.

He contributed 18 goals from 70 appearances during his time with Boro, before signing for Stoke City in the summer of 2009.

1 Stewart Downing

Downing was a cornerstone of the team in the early part of the 21st century, when the club was a mainstay in the top flight.

The winger played nearly 200 league games for Middlesbrough over an eight-year period, before earning a move to Aston Villa in 2009.

Downing made a return to the Riverside in 2015, helping the club gain promotion back to the top flight, before departing again in 2019 as his career began to wind down.