Middlesbrough's manager Garry Monk's summer spreading spree has continued on Friday, as they have broke the £30million mark on strikers with their £6.5m signing of youngster Ashley Fletcher from West Ham United.
Undergoing quite the transition
The Teeside club are undergoing quite the transition after dropping back down to the Championship, after a single-season return to the top-flight, with Monk making the move to the Riverside Stadium after exiting Leeds United.
The coach has certainly begun to shape Boro in his own image, having completed the signings of Martin Braithwaite, Cyrus Christie, Jonny Howson and Darren Randolph, while also completing the club-record signing of striker Britt Assombalonga for £14m from Nottingham Forest.
Fletcher has been touted as one of the best young strikers in the country having impressed for Barnsley the season before last, but was never given a fair crack of the whip after securing his permanent move to The Hammers last summer, having scored one goal in 20 appearances - most of wich came from the bench.
The 21-year-old looked to be pushed further down the pecking order with the arrival of Javier Hernández from Bayern Leverkusen, Fletcher left West Ham's training camp in Germany on Thursday and signed a four-year deal with Boro on Friday.
Happy with their progress
Boro's pre-season is well underway with just one friendly left ahead of the start of the Championship season with Wolves, but the results may not have filled Monk with too much confidence.
Of the four clashes that Middlesbrough have had thus far they have only managed the one win with two draws and a defeat in the other clashes, Boro will host German side Augsburg and Monk stated that his side are working hard on the training pitch ahead of their trip to the Molineux Stadium.
“The lads are working incredibly hard and it’s just about making sure that we get the group right,” Monk told mfc.co.uk. “It’s about continuing to work hard and we will be."
“We’ve got a couple more weeks to work on everything and take into the season," the coach added. "So we can hit the ground running against Wolves.”