Having tasted almost phenomenal success at boyhood club Sheffield United as he led them back up the English pyramid, manager Chris Wilder did hit a bit of a sticky patch after leading them into the top flight and the Premier League but when he departed Bramall Lane, few in football thought he would be out of work for too long and after a gap of eight months to recharge and refresh himself, he rocked up at the Riverside Stadium to take on the challenge that was Middlesbrough.

Chairman and owner Steve Gibson has long put his money where his mouth was when it came to his club and having enjoyed top flight football and European nights under the flood lights, he continues to face the challenge of getting them back into the top flight again - Middlesbrough fans would prefer automatic promotion and a title, but few would not take the Wembley Play Off route if it was offered.

Having left Sheffield United in March 2021, Wilder took on the Riverside job in November of that year following the departure of former gaffer Neil Warnock and from his 33 games in charge, he helped turned around their fortunes with 16 wins and seven draws and far more is expected from them this year given he now has a full pre season to drill his first team squad as he wants - he also has the summer transfer window to make improvements where he sees fit to aid and help that process and for those who like a flutter, if you are tempted into the world of Bitcoin betting given the anonymous, fast and simple, no transaction fee design, banking on Boro to go one step further this year could prove to be very lucrative for you on a personal level given the excellent welcome bonuses offered by Cloudbet - not least a rise of 300% since both Liverpool and Real Madrid last faced each other in the 2018 Champions League Final and no KYC is required either. Cloudbet is also offering a 10k Euro prize to anyone betting on the top 5 leagues within the first 2 weeks of August.

Although Middlesbrough have already announced three captures in the shape of Kamil Conteh, Darragh Lenihan and Liam Roberts (all free agent transfers) they are yet to spend a penny - particularly given the reported £12.5 million sale of Djed Spence to Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur but that does not mean further signings are not on the cards and it has been widely reported that Wilder has targeted three new attacking front men this window in a real effort to bolster their performance in front of goal in the coming 2022/23 Championship campaign.

In particular, two of those three players have been revealed as 26-year-old Blackburn Rovers striker Sam Gallagher and 22-year-old Bristol City forward Antoine Semenyo, although at this stage the third potential target remains unidentified.

At this stage it is believed that tentative enquiries have been made to both clubs (and an unknown third) and transfers are not quite imminent yet, but should these deals prove not to come to fruition you can guarantee there will be other names on the list as having looked like genuine promotion contenders once Wilder got his feet under the desk at the club last season, only falling short right at the end of the year having taken it almost down to the wire, securing their return to the Premier League will be the sole aim and sole focus as we go into the 2022/23 campaign.

With the pre season campaign now well under way, it is certainly set to be an interesting summer for the affectionate but ill-named Smoggies, but if Wilder gets the summer business right they'll be breathing Premier League air at the end of next season.

Photo by Unsplash