Tony Pulis says that selling Patrick Bamford and Adama Traore was the reason behind Middlesbrough lack of attacking play last season.

The Teessiders were forced into selling the pair after increasing pressure to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations following their relegation from the Premier League and the imminent expiry of parachute payments to the club.

This led the duo to Bamford joining Leeds United and  Traore joining Wolves, leaving Pulis with a lack of attacking flair in his Middlesbrough team.

Pulis did manage to lead the club to a seventh place finish in the Championship last season but was criticised by supporters for the negative style of play which was on show week in, week out at the Riverside Stadium.

However the 61-year-old says that a lack of creativity was bound to happen when you sell two players as talented as Bamford and Traore.

Speaking on the Ian Holloway podcast, Pulis said: “I’ve worked at football clubs where we’ve had more flair than people have given us credit for.

"Just take last year for example, they complained and moaned at Middlesbrough because we hadn’t scored enough goals, and we hadn’t done this and we hadn’t done that – and we hadn’t done it because we’d sold Bamford, who was the top scorer at the club, and we sold Traore, who was the best winger outside the Premier League.

"If you take those two out of your team and don’t replace them, you’re not going to score as many goals as I did in the first six months there.

"Patrick was a well educated kid, I liked him a lot, I used to smile at him because he's come from a very privileged background but he's a decent kid.

"I used to have him in my room to talk to him at times because I felt he needed it.

"Traore was exactly the same. When I went to Middlesbrough this kid wasn't being played. He had exceptional talent, I used to bring him in, sit him down, he'd make me a green tea, and we'd just talk about his game.

"Even today not so long ago he called me to see how I am and asked whether I'd watched one of his games. You make that connection.

"With others you find they're not your type and you won't spend as much time with them, but they're still important to you so you treat them well."

The verdict

While Middlesbrough were far from entertaining to watch last season, it's hard to criticise Tony Pulis for the job that he did.

After losing the likes of Ben Gibson, Adama Traore and Patrick Bamford, Pulis did very well to achieve a seventh place finish in the Championship with a squad that was significantly weaker than the year before when they reached the play-offs.

Supporters said a seventh place finish was a failure, but if this season has taught us anything it's how respectable that finish was with a squad that's similar to Jonathan Woodgate's this year.