Cain Sykes leaves Middlesbrough, having joined the club at the age of nine.
When Middlesbrough submits its retained list this summer, Cain Sykes’ name will appear on the list of players released. But he should not be.
That is not because Sykes, who joined Boro at the age of nine, should remain with the club. He should have been released 12 months ago. In fact, if not for a spell of injury hell, he might not have been at the club by the time his initial contract expired last summer. The reason he only left Boro this summer is a fascinating narrative that reveals a lot about Middlesbrough, the club’s youth player-care plan, and, most importantly, the class of Craig Liddle, the academy’s director.
The issue first arose in July 2022. Sykes felt his knee while kicking a ball during training. Following scans, he was relieved to learn that he would not need surgery to repair a complete ligament rupture. Instead, Sykes had a more cautious operation that would keep him out for three months. It meant he missed out on an opportunity to impress Chris Wilder in preseason, but things could have been far worse.
Everything seemed OK when he returned. He finished the season, even making the bench for Michael Carrick versus Luton Town in April 2023. He went on to impress in a pair of friendlies that summer, demonstrating his poise on the ball against York City and Rotherham United.
However, a first-team breakthrough did not materialise, and as his contract entered its last six months, he began to contact with rival EFL clubs about a January 2024 departure. That’s when tragedy hit the boy. He was the Boro’s first reserve for the game against Coventry City on New Year’s Day 2024, and when he walked in for training the next day, his knee fully crumbled. Sykes got the worst news.
This time, the ACL was completely ruptured and surgery was required. Recovery time is always at least a year, which was especially troublesome for Sykes, now 22, whose possible movements were thwarted just six months before his Boro contract expired.
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