Middlesbrough look set to welcome a trio of young Chelsea players on loan for the season in the next week as they look to strengthen the squad before the season begins on 8th August. Kenneth Omeruo, Patrick Bamford and George Saville have all been in high demand, but manager Aitor Karanka's close friendship with José Mourinho looks to have given Boro the edge in all three deals, with a potential fourth player from Stamford Bridge far from out of the question.
The re-signing of Nigeria defender Kenneth Omeruo, who impressed for the Super Eagles at the World Cup over the summer, was announced some time ago but has still not been confirmed by the club. However, this morning the player posted to Instagram a picture of himself with Gambia winger Mustapha Carayol, both of the players in Middlesbrough training kits. Omeruo spent the second half of last season on Teesside and his arrival coincided with arguably the club's best defensive form since they were relegated from the Premier League in 2009. Forming an impressive centre-half pairing with Boro's own academy graduate Ben Gibson, Boro conceded only 15 goals after the turn of the year and Gibson is looking forward to being reunited with Omeruo in the coming season: “Me and Kenneth had a really good partnership last season so if it us then hopefully we will carry on in the same vein. We are similar ages and good friends. We kept in touch even when he was at the World Cup so I just think our styles work well together." Having been linked with several Premier League sides, Omeruo could be a real coup for Boro this season.
Another youngster widely expected to make the switch from Stamford Bridge to the Riverside is 20-year-old forward Patrick Bamford, widely thought to be one of the better attacking talents England have created in the last few years. In a successful spell with former Boro manager Steve McClaren's impressive Derby County side last season in which Bamford scored eight goals in 21 appearances, Wolves looked set to pounce for the striker but a deal with the Teesside club looks to be closer. The arrivals of Diego Costa and Didier Drogba look to have blocked his path to the first team in the short term, but a summer training with the Blues seems to have whetted his appetite for making the step up in the future: “Playing with top players always helps improve your own game, so it’s great to also have the likes of Cesc Fabregas here as well. You can always pick up little tips to help your own game." The arrival of Bamford will give Boro another element to their attack which relied largely on Danny Graham at the end of last season, meaning Karanka was heavily limited to his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. A successful trial of 3-5-2 against promoted Burnley showed that Boro can be more flexible, and now that highly-rated Spanish forward Kike has arrived as a classic no.9, Bamford can offer something different to an occasionally one-dimensional Boro side.
The final piece to the transfer puzzle for now is energetic midfielder George Saville who impressed for Brentford last season, making more than 40 appearances as the Bees clinched automatic promotion. Brentford were determined to bring him back for another season and former manager Uwe Rösler tried unsuccessfully to take him to current club Wigan, but again Boro's superior contacts seem to have won them the deal. Wolves were another club linked with the midfielder, as they were with Bamford, but Saville allegedly held talks at the Riverside earlier this week and a deal could be completed before Boro's final pre-season friendly with Villarreal this Saturday. Saville is thought of highly at Chelsea but with stars such as Nemanja Matić and Cesc Fàbregas standing in his way, he is well down the midfield pecking order for the time being at least.
Undoubtedly there will be complaints about Boro's use of their contacts with a single club to bring in so many players, but they are not the first Championship club to do so and they certainly will not be the last. Watford drew criticism for their use of their ties with Udinese but the link has been a successful one, with Watford playing with attacking vigour and unearthing exciting talents such as the popular Matěj Vydra. Boro will hope to do the same and with Chelsea pleased with the progress made by Omeruo and former Watford loanee Nathaniel Chalobah at the club last season, the development of some top English talents in the Championship can only be a good thing.