Source: Northern_Echo
Boro targeting loan signings to aid promotion push
WITH the window for Football League loans due to open this morning, Gary McAllister has admitted Middlesbrough could make a shortterm signing to help plug the gap that has emerged in their midfield.[LNB] While the transfer window for permanent signings closed on August 31, Football League clubs can make temporary transfers from today onwards.[LNB] Gordon Strachan has previously spoken of his dislike of the loan system, but with Boro's injury list having swelled considerably in recent weeks, the Scotsman may have to temper his stance in order to bolster the size of his squad.[LNB] Rhys Williams, Kevin Thomson and Willo Flood are all nursing long-term problems, while Gary O'Neil is struggling with a knee injury that refuses to disappear.[LNB] As a result, Boro's midfield ranks have been decimated, and McAllister admits a loan signing could offer a shortterm solution, with Wolves winger Michael Kightly already having been linked with a possible move to the Riverside.[LNB] Loans are a possibility, and now we're going into this period, it's a question of who's available and who can be brought to the club, said the assistant boss.[LNB] If you're going to bring people in on loan, they have to be better than the people who are here. That has to be the thinking.[LNB] We've had some quite severe injuries. They're making good progress, but we've been battered in the middle of the park, an area of the pitch where I thought we were looking quite strong.[LNB] We've had some bad injuries in a short space of time, and that's obviously reduced our options. A couple of the injured lads are ahead of schedule though, and they'll make a difference when they come back in.[LNB] O'Neil could feature in this weekend's game at QPR, with Thomson also expected to return before the end of the month.[LNB] Flood and Williams, on the other hand, are unlikely to play before the end of the year, and in the opening weeks of the season, their creativity has undoubtedly been missed.[LNB] Boro have scored just two goals in their opening four league games, and both Kris Boyd and Scott McDonald have suffered from a chronic lack of service from midfield.[LNB] McAllister admits that chances have been at a premium, but the former Leeds and Liverpool midfielder retains the utmost confidence in his side's attack.[LNB] Kevin Thomson came down, settled in very quickly, and looked like a player who could make an impact in this division, he said. Gary O'Neil is proven at a higher level than the Championship, so to have those two guys taken out of your starting line-up is a blow.[LNB] The players to have suffered are the two front men.[LNB] We've not had a great deal of quality service going up there.[LNB] But you have to trust these guys. I've seen a fair bit of Scott McDonald and a lot of Kris Boyd, and they're both goalscorers. They thrive on the responsibility of being judged on scoring goals.[LNB] Both Boyd and McDonald have been on international duty this week, and McAllister admits it has been frustrating to have to wait so long to get last month's defeat at Barnsley out of the system.[LNB] There's a few things we'd like to have worked on as a group, and we haven't been able to do that, he said. It's not the same for everybody, because a lot of clubs don't have five or six international footballers.[LNB] But that's part and parcel of being one of the fancied teams, and you want as many international players in your squad as you can.[LNB]
