MIDDLESBROUGH'S END TO THE SEASON REINFORCES CARRICK'S TRANSFER PLANS RATHER THAN CHANGES THEM

Michael Carrick says Middlesbrough's strong end to the season only serves to reinforce his summer transfer planning, rather than change anything.

Boro head into their final game of the season at home to Watford on Saturday on the back of a run of just one defeat in their last 11 games. While that's ultimately come too late for Boro to be able to break into the top six and reach the play-offs this season, it's providing plenty of encouragement for next season.

What Boro do have this season in comparison to last is early clarity on the division they will be competing in next season, with tentative planning for the summer transfer window taking place since January. As that has stepped up in recent weeks, Carrick admitted last week he had a good idea of how he wanted the squad to look. But as far as the recent form is concerned, that's only served to strengthen those plans he had.

READ MORE: 10 Middlesbrough players who could be saying farewell to the Riverside after Watford

“The last 11 games haven’t had much impact on summer plans," Carrick said. "It shows the direction we want to go in and we’re, in some ways, happy with where that’s going. We’d like to be little bit higher up the league and be a little bit quicker with the success, but I think we’ve proved we’re moving in the right direction. So it’s not altered what we think really. If anything, it’s just backed up how much we believe in the boys and what we’re capable of.”

As ever, the summer will prove an important period for the club in terms of shaping their credentials to achieve their aim of making it back to the Premier League. Both in their ability to bring the right players to the club, but also in keeping the core of their squad together too, to avoid the kind of wholesale changes that came last summer and impacted their start to this season.

Carrick continued: “Of course we’d like to get business done early, but there is a balance to that. We look at how much needs doing. The consistency and continuity is just as important in terms of the squad and the boys knowing each other and having that connection because that does take time. But, of course, we want to improve the squad and the sooner we can do that the better.”

2024-05-03T11:02:33Z dg43tfdfdgfd