This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Middlesbrough had a strong season last year and were unlucky to miss out on a spot in the play-offs after they took it to the final day of the season.
However, looking ahead to next season Chris Wilder's side will be eager to build upon their progress and push to gain promotion to the top flight.
According to TalkSPORT reporter Alex Crook, Middlesbrough are in the leading position to sign second choice goalkeeper Zack Steffen from Manchester City.
With Manchester City gaining the services of Stefan Ortega, it frees up space for the current number two to make a move away next season.
The American goalkeeper made nine appearances for City last season and we asked FLW's Middlesbrough fan pundit Dana Malt her thoughts on the potential signing: "It's one that's come completely out of nowhere and it's a deal that signals Boro's intent for the coming season, because I don't think anybody would've expected Boro to even be linked with Manchester City's number two goalkeeper, never mind being close to signing him."
"I know obviously City have some movement in the goalkeeper department with Gavin Bazunu leaving and Stefan Ortega coming in, it's opened up the possibility of Steffen leaving. But even with that, never expected in a million years for Boro to be the club linked with him.
"It remains to be seen about exactly how good he is, it's difficult to gage it really because he's a number two keeper at a very, very elite club in Manchester City. Surely based on that, he can be good enough for Middlesbrough and surely he'll be an upgrade on Joe Lumley.
"It's an exciting deal as I said, it shows that we are really serious about trying to get promoted next season and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does."
The Verdict:
As Dana says, this is a massive sign of intent from Middlesbrough ahead of the new season and a positive representation of their aims for the new campaign.
It's hard to know exactly how good he is as we haven't seen much of him in action but he has definitely shown signs of promise for Manchester City and to be their number two, he has to have quality in him.
Middlesbrough are in need of strength in their goalkeeping department ahead of next season especially if they are going to compete and Steffen can definitely add that for them.