Boro’s Mark Travers transfer stance and their summer window priorities

Boro’s Mark Travers transfer stance and their summer window priorities

 

 

Don Goodman this week called pushing to re-sign Mark Travers this summer a no-brainer for Middlesbrough, though the club are understood to have a different stance.

 

Despite their admiration of the Ireland international goalkeeper after his excellent loan spell on Teesside in the second half of last season, the current understanding is that Travers won’t be returning to Boro next season. While Boro will closely monitor the situation, right now, a Travers return is off the cards.

 

That’s because Boro have been told that buying Travers from Bournemouth this summer will use a large chunk of their transfer budget, while the wages on offer from other interested parties makes it a costly deal for Boro. In a summer they have numerous priorities for strengthening, Sol Brynn’s return from injury means goalkeeper isn’t an area they wish to spend so much money on.

 

Is that the right decision? Are they right to plough resources into other areas in the team and put their faith in academy graduate Brynn? That’s the question we put to our fan panel this week, which consists of Youtube analyst Phil Spencer, Boro Breakdown co-host Dana Malt, Boropolis co-founder Chris Cassidy and Twe12th Man member Stephen Jackson.

 

Stephen Jackson

This is a difficult question to answer as I agree and disagree with the club’s stance on this. I think bringing in Mark Travers will be a great piece of business as he was valuable towards the end of the season. But one thing the club and Michael Carrick have stated is their faith in giving the youth a chance and Sol Brynn was brilliant before his unfortunate injury.

 

So, for me, Brynn does deserve a chance to be given the opportunity. However, we can’t bring anyone else in until the future of Seny Dieng is decided. Still, a goalkeeper is not priority as bringing in a second striker to support Conway, one with a bit of pace as well, has to be brought in or we will struggle to get out of this league once again!

 

Phil Spencer

Mark Travers would be a hugely important signing for Middlesbrough and we shouldn’t be afraid of spending money on him. Sol Brynn looked good last season but it’s a lot of pressure on him to become the goalkeeper who is ready to be a top Championship stopper – the thing that we realistically need to go up.

 

For too many seasons now our goalkeeper has been a big talking point due to the often erratic nature of performances (I’m looking at you: Joe Lumley, Zack Steffen and Seny Dieng!) When Travers arrived it was so refreshing as for once, I didn’t feel anxious when the ball went near him and I could rest easy in the knowledge that he was ‘a safe pair of hands’. That can’t be underestimated.

 

Boro do have bigger fish to fry in the transfer market this summer but the impact of a top-level goalkeeper who is solid and reliable can be huge, particularly as we look to implement a stronger spine and defensive mindset within the team. Travers won’t be in Bournemouth’s plans next season and so he will be available – the question is about how much it would cost to sign him.

 

For me, I’d be happy to see us spend £5m or £6m to bring him in, but anything more than that would probably be excessive. As for wages, he’ll be on a decent package at the moment but he would be worth a significant outlay – however we don’t want to get into a stupid bidding war with the teams with parachute payments or the likes of Birmingham/Wrexham who will spend big.

 

I certainly think that Middlesbrough should work hard to bring Travers back on a permanent basis, but it will be up to Kieran Scott to use his common sense and know when to walk away from negotiations and look elsewhere.

 

Chris Cassidy

It’s a massive shame that we most likely won’t see Mark Travers in between the sticks for Middlesbrough next season, but it makes sense for the club not to prioritise re-signing him if the fee would heavily eat into Boro’s summer budget.

 

The Ireland international was undoubtedly the highlight of an unsuccessful January window. His performances even drew comparisons to Darren Randolph, Boro’s best goalkeeper since relegation. Unfortunately, Middlesbrough aren’t in the same financial position they were when they spent a reported £5m on that particular Irish goalkeeper in 2017.

 

Middlesbrough have more pressing issues currently, and with Sol Brynn returning from injury, they potentially already have their number one ready for next season and beyond. There were very few complaints during Brynn’s stint in the team before he was forced off against Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day.

 

In an alternate universe Boro may have not even signed Travers in January. As mentioned, there were no concerns around Brynn’s level of performance whilst in the team. Had the twenty-four-year-old avoided injury, there’d have been no need for the addition of another goalkeeper. However, with Seny Dieng’s injury looking long-term and Tom Glover’s contract situation, I would like to see the club add some competition for Brynn.

 

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Dana Malt

I think Boro should prioritise re-signing him. We know how good a goalkeeper he is from his performances in the second half of the season. His contributions had me wondering where Boro would have finished if we had him from the start.

 

The club should know how detrimental it can be to have a poorly performing keeper between the sticks. They had Seny Dieng and Tom Glover this season. They had Joe Lumley in 2022/23. And they had both Marcus Bettinelli and Jordan Archer in 2021/22.

 

Boro need to swing the pendulum from ‘poor goalkeeper costing points’ to ‘good goalkeeper earning points’. Mark Travers would be the ideal signing to help Boro do that, but I acknowledge we already have a decent goalkeeper here in Sol Brynn.

 

I gather the club rate Brynn highly. I enjoyed his performances this season, so would be content to see him given a go. But if there’s even a slight chance of bringing Mark Travers back then I would love to see that come to fruition.

 

As well as hearing their views on particular Boro topics on Teesside Live each week, you can also hear from them further on their respective platforms. Phil Spencer runs his own Youtube channel which you can subscribe to here. Chris Cassidy is part of the Boropolis Podcast, Dana Malt is part of the Boro Breakdown Podcast, and Stephen Jackson is part of the Twe12th Man Podcast, all of which you can listen to on all major podcast outlets.

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