According to the latest reports from Gazette Live, Middlesbrough are weighing up a move for Birmingham City’s forward Isaac Vassell. The report adds that Tony Pulis is an admirer of the forward as he has impressive pace and can play either as a target man or as a secondary striker. The player is being rated at £2m by his current club.
The 25-year-old is a cousin of former England international Darius Vassell. The striker has managed just two appearances so far this season in the Championship as Vassell had spent close to a year in recovery after he suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury. That has made the Teessiders cautious and they want to have a thoroughly structured deal. We assume some part of the fee could be associated with the forward’s appearances or game time.
His first game after the injury was just a fortnight ago against Middlesbrough when he came on as a substitute. Boro were fighting for the direct promotion spot for quite some time, but they have gone off the boil in the past month or so.
One of the primary reasons for that is their lack of goals, and even though they sit on the fifth spot now, they are the least scoring side among the top 19 clubs. They have the best defence in the league by quite a margin, but it is clear that Pulis needs to add more firepower upfront in his squad to bolster their chances of promotion.
Vassell has everything in his repertoire which a striker might need as he is strong on the ball and showcases terrific pace. However, he is yet not proven at the Championship level and given his recent injury record; this could turn out to be a gamble for the manager.
The forward though can definitely go on to prove his worth. His best stint came with Luton Town in League Two where he managed ten goals and five assists in 48 appearances. It would be interesting to see whether the Blues would look to sell Vassell as their current first-choice striker Che Adams is attracting plenty of interest (The Guardian) in the transfer market and in that case, they would like to hold on to Vassell until the end of the season.
The price of £2m is going to raise a few eyebrows as the player doesn’t have a history of scoring goals regularly and is just coming from the back of a major injury. It remains to be seen how keen Boro would be to land this striker before the deadline day. For us, we would look elsewhere if we were making the transfer decisions for Middlesbrough.
