This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict’ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Middlesbrough will be in the process right now of drawing up their potential targets for January in what will be Chris Wilder’s first chance to add to his squad. 

Football League World believes that Middlesbrough are now one of the teams that are interested in making a potential move for Brentford forward Markus Forss in January. That comes with the Bees potentially ready to sanction a loan departure for him in the winter window so that he can get more game time in the second half of the campaign.

Boro are going to be set to face competition from the likes of Sheffield United, West Brom, Stoke City and Fulham for Forss’ signature in January. That means it could take a lot of effort from Wilder to ensure he convinces the forward to come to the Riverside.

With Middlesbrough now interested in Forss, we asked our FLW writers whether they feel it would be a good signing for Boro to make…

Adam Jones 

The perfect Ikpeazu replacement.

 It would be slightly harsh if the ex-Wycombe man was sold by the Teesside outfit in January after only arriving in the summer, but this could be the ruthlessness Wilder needs to adopt in his quest to create a promotion-winning team.

He would provide fantastic competition in that forward department alongside the likes of Andraz Sporar, Duncan Watmore and Josh Coburn - and as a striker that scored seven goals in 40 appearances for Brentford last term - he should be able to score enough goals alongside a strike partner to fire Boro to the play-offs.

 This is why Wilder's formation would be perfect if the second-tier side did want to start him regularly.

There are no guarantees he would be more prolific than he was last term, but as long as they aren't relying on him as their main striker, this would be a low-risk loan signing for them.

 He can only improve considering he's just 22, so this potential deal would make sense to provide competition and a decent amount of quality in that front line. Alongside Watmore, he could be a real handful for most Championship defenders.

 

 

Josh Cole 

This could turn out to be a clever bit of business by Middlesbrough as they unquestionably need to bolster their attacking options in January.

Andraz Sporar has only managed to score three goals in the Championship this season whilst Uche Ikpeazu has also been very inconsistent at this level.

Having found the back of the net on eight occasions at this level during the previous campaign for Brentford, Forss will fancy his chances of setting this division alight if he opts to join Boro.

Chris Wilder will need to act quickly in order to seal a move for the forward as he is attracting a great deal of interest from a host of Championship sides

Chris Thopre

I have been watching Marcus Forss since he was on loan at AFC Wimbledon and even at that stage I knew he was destined for big things.

Ultimately he will always be behind Ivan Toney in the pecking order at Brentford, so a loan move away would make a lot of sense.

He is the type of hard working forward that Chris Wilder needs to implement his style of play to great effect. 

He will add a proven Championship pedigree to the squad and international level quality. 

Overall this move ticks all the boxes for what Boro need right now.