With Garry Monk finally appointed Middlesbrough boss, it’s now time for him to start signing players. The first player to be linked with a move to Boro since Monk was appointed manager is Cameron Jerome. Jerome is an English striker who has played for Norwich for the past three years. He has also enjoyed spells at Cardiff, Stoke, Crystal Palace and Birmingham in his career.
Jerome has enjoyed a long career in which he has had spells in both the Championship and the Premier League. The question remains, however, should Middlesbrough attempt to sign him?
Consistent Championship striker
As Middlesbrough are now back in the Championship, it would be a good idea to start with how well Jerome performs in this league. Luckily for Boro fans, he has done well.
As mentioned earlier, he has spent the past three seasons at Norwich. In this time, Norwich has been in the Championship for two of the three years. Also, in both of those seasons, Jerome has finished as Norwich’s top scorer. In the 2014/15 season, he scored 18 in the league, also earning seven assists. More recently, this past season, Jerome scored 16 in the league while also getting eight assists.
Compare this to Boro’s last two Championship seasons and Jerome also beats Boro’s strikers in terms of goal scoring. In 2015/16 when Middlesbrough earned a promotion, their top scorer David Nugent finished with eight goals. The season before that Patrick Bamford was their top scorer in the league with 17.
So it would seem Jerome would be a great signing for Boro because he is consistent in this league. Also, he has scored more goals than any of Boro’s players in their seven-year stint in the Championship. Furthermore, as Middlesbrough’s key problem is scoring goals, signing a striker who has scored 18 and 16 in his past two Championship seasons wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Already promoted from the Championship
Another positive of signing Jerome is that he knows what it takes to get promoted from the Championship. He actually did it in his first season at Norwich. Sadly for Boro fans, he did do it at the expense of their team. In the 2014/15 Championship season, Norwich finished 3rd in the League, missing out on automatic promotion by just three points.
However, Norwich would go on to make it to the playoff final that year, at which point they met Middlesbrough who they beat 2-0 to earn promotion to the Premier League. Jerome was also one of the goal scorers that day.
This clearly shows that the player knows what it takes to earn promotion from the Championship and is very comfortable in this league. It also shows Jerome would also be a safer bet than a foreign striker who has never played in the Championship before. If Middlesbrough opted to sign an unknown from a foreign league they may not be able to adapt to the Championship style of football and the busy schedule.
Not a Premier League quality striker
One downside of signing Cameron Jerome, however, is his dismal Premier League record. The season Jerome spent in the top flight with Norwich, he managed just three goals in 34 games. His previous season in the Premier League was in 2013/14 with Crystal Palace in which he played 28 games scoring just two goals.
This clearly shows Jerome is not a Premier League quality striker. So, if Boro do sign him, they should be aware of this and should have a plan B ready. Overall, Jerome would be a good signing for Boro this season because he is a proven Championship goalscorer who has scored more goals than any Boro players in their time in the competition.
However, while Jerome could help Middlesbrough earn promotion they would probably be better of signing a new striker once back in the Premier League. Therefore, if they do sign him, they should not pay too much for him as he will most likely only be useful in the Championship.
