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…

Neil Warnock bolstered his Middlesbrough squad on deadline day with not one, but two attacking signings.

Fresh off bringing Yannick Bolasie through the door last week, the veteran manager has given Nathaniel Mendez-Laing another chance following his acrimonious Cardiff City exit in September.

But the more exciting arrival has to be the signing of Fulham winger Neeskens Kebano, who has penned a loan deal until the end of the season.

The DR Congo international was out of favour at Craven Cottage but brings a ton of Championship experience, having scored five goals in 19 games last season - two of those goals coming in the play offs.

Should Warnock throw Kebano straight into his line-up to face Brentford though?

The FLW team have had their say on the matter...

Phil Spencer

Neeskens Kebano will certainly be hoping that he can force his way into the starting XI.

After joining from Fulham the midfielder will be hoping to make a real impression at the Riverside Stadium.

There's little doubt that he'll feature against Brentford, but will he start? I'm not so sure.

Warnock's side is based around cohesion and so he'll need to be totally sure that Kebano will fit before he throws him into the starting XI.

 

 

George Harbey

Potentially.

There are a lot of games coming up this month and it’s a team game, so I wouldn’t be against starting him after his arrival from Fulham this week.
Whilst he may be a useful, much-needed addition, he hasn’t played for a while and may need to time to be bedded in and get used to playing regularly again.
He’s a good player, and when he’s fully fit, he could make all the difference in the race for promotion via the play-offs.
Boro have some good attacking options regardless, though, so competition needs to be healthy and Kebano needs to be chomping at the bit.

Sam Rourke

He needs to be bedded in slowly into that Boro team after a period without playing much football.

He's a really useful attacking option for Middlesbrough to have with him possessing a lot of pedigree at this level, so I think an impact sub role could suit this weekend.

Boro fans are likely going to want to see him in action sooner rather than later, but you want him involved when he's fully up to match speed and accustomed to his new surroundings.

So in short, I wouldn't start him, but look to bring him on if the game requires some attacking quality off the bench.