Many Middlesbrough players are playing to earn the right to be part of Kim Hellberg's plans next season
08:00, 05 Apr 2026
Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg
Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg(Image: PA)
Several members of the Middlesbrough squad are not only playing to try to take the club into the Premier League, both also for their long term futures under the tutelage of Kim Hellberg.
Whichever league Boro are in next season, Hellberg needs to know who he wants alongside him on the future journey, and who he doesn’t. In this respect, there could hardly be a better reason for everybody in the squad to bust a gut to stay in the team during the run-in.
Of the players out of contract this summer, Hellberg has already decided he wanted to keep Luke Ayling. Surely he'll have the same opinion of Dael Fry, whichever division Boro are in. Fry is a traditional stopper-type centre-back. He is solid in his role and attacks the ball powerfully both on the ground and in the air.
If not for injury, you suspect that Hellberg would have given Sammy Silvera a lot more pitch time. The Aussie has improved this season and done well both as a full-back and a winger.
While we should expect Darragh Lenihan, Dan Barlaser and Marcus Forss all to become free agents, there will be one or other members of the club who may be squeezed out – and possibly end up playing somewhere else on loan, or even sold.
Boro might try to make Alan Browne’s move from Sunderland a permanent one. The Irishman has enjoyed an excellent season and is worth a full-time move. So, too, does Matt Targett, though a deal will depend on his wage demands and if Hellberg decides that the time is ripe to give Fin Munroe his head.
Hellberg may also have seen enough from Jeremy Sarmiento to believe the Spanish-born winger could become a valuable member of the squad.
It’s the fringe players who most need to impress in the next few weeks, whether on the training ground or in competitive action. It’s reasonable to assume that Abdoulaye Kante will return to France, while the biggest disappointment of the season has surely been Sontje Hansen.
He arrived with such a glowing testimony but has failed to produce and so, in many respects has Kaly Sene. Alex Gilbert has been in and out under Hellberg but needs a rousing finale to the campaign, while even George Edmundson’s future is open to question following an injury-wrecked season.
Delano Burgzorg and Neto Borges were seen as surplus to requirements when they headed off on loan to Bristol City, so it’s difficult to see the situation changing.
Naturally, there are big decisions to be made in the summer, though that’s the last thing Hellberg will be thinking about at the moment.
Even so, for a good number of players, they need to make sure they come under Hellberg’s radar over the next five weeks and do their damnest when the chances come along to try to play a part in Boro reaching the Premier League.
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