Middlesbrough are looking into a potential move for Brentford striker Marcus Forss, according to a report from Football Insider.
The 23-year-old hasn't been short of interest from Championship sides over the past year, with Football League World revealing in December that Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United were all interested in luring him away from the Brentford Community Stadium temporarily.
Boro were another side believed to be interested in snapping up the Finn, though they were unable to get a deal over the line ahead of Hull City who had just been boosted by the takeover of current owner Acun Ilicali at the time.
He was brought in alongside Allahyar Sayyadmanesh with Josh Magennis heading to Wigan Athletic - but struggled to make a real impact at the MKM Stadium as he recorded one goal and one assist in 11 appearances for Shota Arveladze's men.
Despite pursuing a permanent move for Sayyadmanesh, they haven't agreed a fresh move for Forss and this has allowed Boro to step in, with chairman Steve Gibson potentially happy to sanction this deal.
Gibson previously stepped in to stop Dwight Gayle from securing a move to the Riverside, preferring to recruit players who are 30 and under according to a previous report from Football Insider.
Despite rejecting this Gayle move, the Teesside club are in desperate need of more forwards with Andraz Sporar, Aaron Connolly and Folarin Balogun all returning to their parent clubs following the end of last season. Forss could be the man to solve some of their problems in the final third.
The Verdict:
Although he failed to live up to expectations last season, he could be an excellent option for Boro who should be looking to target their forward area as a main priority now considering the current state of play there.
Not only have three former loan players departed - Uche Ikpeazu and Chuba Akpom have been told they can leave and this leaves Chris Wilder needing at least two or three forwards in their quest for promotion.
Ideally, they need a forward or two in as quickly as possible with the season approaching, so they should be looking elsewhere if they can't get this deal over the line before the start of 2022/23.
The Bees may want to take a closer look at him before deciding whether to sanction a move for him - but that isn't ideal for Wilder's side who ideally would have had a new striker or two through the door already.
For Forss though, this is a great opportunity if he can join in the coming days, because he would be likely to be above both Duncan Watmore and Josh Coburn in the pecking order at this stage and may retain his starting spot if he can impress.
That would help him to forget about his loan spell in East Yorkshire last term.