Middlesbrough: Michael Carrick must not be afraid to follow 2023 transfer blueprint: View | OneFootball

Michael Carrick was able to find some hidden gems from various European leagues last summer and Middlesbrough should continue that search again this summer.

It can be incredibly difficult for English clubs outside the Premier League to quietly source their next star in today's world of transfers.

Certain countries and their leagues are no longer best-kept secrets, with scouts from every top-flight club clambering over one another to get their hands on the continent's next wonderkid.

It means that if Championship clubs such as Middlesbrough want to find and scout players without constantly looking over their shoulders, they must venture off the beaten track.

But that's not always a bad thing, as proven by Boro's fantastic 2023 summer business in Europe, as players such as Rav van den Berg, Emmanuel Latte Lath, Lukas Engel and Alex Bangura all respectively made the switch to Teesside from across Europe's leagues.

All four of them have already impressed and with Bangura already tipped for big things in 2024 by manager Michael Carrick, Boro should go back to those markets again this summer.

Without them, Boro would've been lost

It's an exercise that Middlesbrough fans will not be keen to partake in, but you have to wonder where Boro would've been this season without the impact of their European recruits.

Latte Lath's 16 goals and one assist in 30 Championship appearances fired Boro away from relegation fears and towards promotion dreams.

Van den Berg showed the ability and classiness that had elite European clubs jostling for his signature last summer, before the Dutch youth international opted for a move to Teesside instead.

The 19-year-old was also crowned Middlesbrough's Young Player and Player of the Season at their end of season award ceremony.

Meanwhile, Engel continued to only get better as the season wore on and ended the season with a promising two goals and four assists in 35 league matches.

As for Bangura, his debut season in the North East was blighted by injury setbacks, but in the limited action he saw, the Sierra Leone international looked like a player with bags of promise and excitement.

Two goals and three assists in 18 games for Boro in all competitions tells the story of player who was making an impact when he was on the pitch.

It's the best fit for Boro's new transfer philosophy

Middlesbrough have made it clear that they will continue to search for young talent that they can develop in the first-team, before being in a position to sell them on for a significantly higher price further down the line.

They appear to have ticked all of those boxes with Van den Berg and Latte Lath in particular, as Boro could expect to receive a fee for both of those players that is multiple times over what they respectively paid for them.

It is notoriously difficult to prise away young talents on permanent deals from Premier League clubs in England, with the loan market often being the only conceivable way of securing top-flight young talent.

Filling your squad with excessive amounts of loan players, only to see them return to parent clubs, is something Carrick has admittedly wanted to move away from.

And so the best place to find players that suit Middlesbrough's recruitment policy is the European market, and it does appear that Carrick and his Boro chiefs agree.

Middlesbrough have recently been linked with a summer move for Elfsborg midfielder Michael Baidoo, as the Ghanaian has been enjoying a successful time in the Swedish top-flight.

It is now reported that although Boro are looking to prioritise the signing of a midfielder early on in the summer window, Baidoo is not a player on their wishlist.

But it does strongly suggest that Middlesbrough are scouring the European leagues once again for talent this summer, ahead of what is hoped to be an exciting 2024/25 season at the Riverside Stadium.