Rob Edwards’ intriguing comment regarding Middlesbrough selling important players was, “What I would say.”

Rob Edwards stated that Middlesbrough would have a plan in place for replacements in the event that sales were necessary, but he gave no guarantees that the team would retain its key players this summer.

After Boro’s poor tenth-place finish the previous season, Michael Carrick was fired, and Edwards took over as head coach this summer. Before almost losing out on a play-off spot in his final two seasons, Carrick was able to secure Boro a spot once. However, big-player sales did not improve his chances.

Boro lost Emmanuel Latte Lath, Morgan Rogers, and Chuba Akpom during his tenure there; the latter two left in the January transfer window. Regretfully, this is the situation for a Championship team like Boro, which aims to compete with teams receiving Parachute Payments while remaining within PSR bounds.

Edwards was thoroughly briefed on his responsibilities and the club’s present course when he assumed leadership at the Riverside. According to him, he shared the strategy and vision. However, with the Premier League and top-tier European interest in Hayden Hackney, Rav van den Berg, and Finn Azaz, he may lose several important players this summer.

“Of course we want to keep our best players, but what I would say is that there’s always a plan,” Edwards responded when asked if Boro will be able to retain important players and if he had received any guarantees when he accepted the position.

“The people in charge would have to make the choice, but if we decided that someone should go, I don’t think it should be seen negatively or as a cause for concern. Then, we must view that as a chance to do better.

With the record-breaking sale of Latte Lath in January and bonus funds following the sales of Rogers and Djed Spence, Boro enters the summer transfer window in a respectable PSR position. However, that does not imply that they will be unable to reject proposals this summer that are very valuable.

A sale makes sense from a financial perspective since Hackney and Van den Berg, in particular, are approaching the last two years of their current Boro contracts and will reach their peak worth to Boro this summer unless longer terms can be negotiated.

Van den Berg has previously talked about his future and stated that he is not in a rush to leave the club until the proper chance arises, but he acknowledged that interest has already been shown. With three years left on his contract, Azaz has stated that he is content at Boro despite his desire to play at the greatest level.