Latest reports claim that Middlesbrough have made inquiries to Sheffield Wednesday over 28-year-old forward, Fernando Forestieri. The Owls are ready to offload the attacker in hopes of balancing their books ahead of the 2018/19 season. Mounting debts need to be cleared and Forestieri is expected to fetch them a decent amount of cash.
The Italian has been with Sheffield for three seasons now and still has 2 more years left in his contract. He is versatile with his positioning and can appear in almost any position on the offensive end of the pitch.
Forestieri struck the back of the net 5 times in his 10 games in the Championship last term. An injury to the knee stole from him most of his playing time but he is still a favourable component for manager Jos Luhukay. The 28-year-old only moved to Hillsborough due to the lack of team selection at Watford.
After helping the Hornets earn promotion and witnessing big names make their way over to Vicarage, Forestieri found himself way below the pecking order. He made close to a 100 appearances for Watford and was directly involved in 44 goals for the club.
Prior to that, the attacker spent time with various Italian outfits such as Udinese, Empoli, Bari and Genoa. The 28-year-old started out his career with Boca Juniors youth ranks but signed with Genoa to make his professional debut in the Serie B against Empoli.
He mostly bounced around the Italian first and second division and even had a loan spell away to Malaga before he boarded his plane to the United Kingdom. He has 162 games worth of Championship experience in which he has scored 52 and furthered 36 assists.
Forestieri was primarily an attacking midfielder but his footballing intelligence allowed him to be impactful in attack and from the wings as well. He was always a bright prospect coming out of Argentina, with 26 youth caps for Italy and 9 goals registered to his name for his country.
Still at the peak of his playing career, Forestieri could fit into the system that Tony Pulis has in place at Riverside. The Boro finished the previous season in the 5th spot of the English second division but could not get past Aston Villa in the first round of the playoffs.
Now Pulis has to revamp the squad with a few key additions now that the loan signings have been returned to their respective sides.
Forestieri will add a completely different dynamic to the Boro squad and could work wonders with players like Adam Clayton and Grant Leadbitter operating from behind.
