Middlesbrough fell flat with £300k Charlton Athletic agreement | OneFootball

Jason Euell spent just one year at Middlesbrough, despite a deal that looked strong on paper.

Middlesbrough will hold plenty of regrets that they didn’t manage to get more out of forward Jason Euell upon signing him from Charlton Athletic in 2006.

The Jamaica international had impressed in the Premier League for Charlton Athletic, tempting Boro into a move to provide some experience for Gareth Southgate’s side.

They seemed to extract a decent deal at the time, but things would never quite work out at the Riverside for Euell.

After just one season, he was no longer with the squad and playing in a lower division, having left on a free.

Jason Euell built a strong reputation at Charlton Athletic

Having made his name at Wimbledon, Euell dropped down with the club to the second tier in 2000, and scored 19 goals in 36 league appearances for The Dons; he was clearly too good for the level.

The Addicks, then in the Premier League, swiftly moved in with a then club-record £4.75m offer in the summer of 2001, and it proved to be a successful move.

In his first three seasons with the club, he bagged an 11 and two 10-goal Premier League scoring campaigns at The Valley, an impressive haul considering the strength of the league and Charlton’s place in the hierarchy.

However, an interrupted following two campaigns (04/05 & 05/06), including a lengthy absence with a dislocated shoulder, had seen Euell’s influence at The Valley wane.

So, when Middlesbrough came knocking, they were open to the conversation regarding a potential sale.

Euell looked like a steal for Middlesbrough

With Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Joseph Job both having moved on from Middlesbrough in the summer of 2006, Southgate had been on the lookout for new attacking options to replenish his forward line, and decided Euell was his man.

Having gone for such a fee to Charlton, and been their top scorer for three of his five seasons there, the £300k deal Boro managed to get over the line for the then-29-year-old looked like a steal.

If they could keep Euell fit, they knew how dangerous he could be at that level, and had the adaptability to play in a number of positions; up front, out wide or in midfield.

Sadly, it would not prove to be as fruitful as it looked on paper.

Jason Euell's time at the Riverside Stadium didn't work out

Despite all the promise, and a seemingly good deal, Euell did not work at Middlesbrough.

In his first, and only, season with the club, he made just 17 Premier League appearances, comprised of just nine starts, and managed just two assists.

At the time of his arrival, Middlesbrough were fresh off the back of an unforgettable 05/06 season, as despite finishing 14th in the Premier League, Boro had reached the quarter-final of the League Cup, the semi-final of the FA Cup, and went all the way to the final of the UEFA Cup (Europa League) before losing to Sevilla.

Boro were also able to retain the services of star strikers Yakubu and Mark Viduka for the 06/07 season, meaning that Euell had some genuine top-class players that were virtually impossible to usurp in the pecking order.

Therefore, it was not the shrewd move those at the Riverside had hoped for, and after that solitary campaign, the two were looking to part ways.

Euell ended up signing for Southampton, then in the Championship, on a free transfer in the summer of 2007, with Boro not recouping any of their initial investment.

The attacker fared better with the Saints that year, registering seven goal involvements in 38 games, albeit in a division lower.

Despite Euell’s obvious talent and suitability for the level, it’s hard to find any positive angles from his move to Boro; it simply didn’t work out for either party.

It could have gone down as a smart move, but Euell’s transfer from Charlton to Middlesbrough