'A huge surprise' - Fresh claim made on 'rare' Middlesbrough move for Kim Hellberg | OneFootball

FLW's Middlesbrough fan pundit has given his verdict on the potential appointment of Kim Hellberg

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Kim Hellberg is close to becoming the next Middlesbrough manager despite heavy links with rivals Swansea City.

It has been reported by Expressen on Monday morning that the Teesside outfit have agreed terms on a contract with the Swedish coach, as they seek a replacement for Rob Edwards.

The 42-year-old arrived in the summer in place of Michael Carrick, and oversaw a strong start to the Championship campaign, before moving to Wolves.

The team are in the mix for automatic promotion, as they seek a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2017.

Hellberg is currently in charge of Hammarby, and he led the team to a second place finish in the Allsvenskvan, with the season coming to a close earlier this month.

Shock at Middlesbrough at Kim Hellberg breakthrough

When asked for his thoughts on Hellberg’s impending appointment, FLW’s Middlesbrough fan pundit Matthew Penney revealed his shock at the development, particularly due to the nature of his likely arrival.

He’s claimed it’s a very rare kind of appointment for a number of reasons, as he will be only the second ever foreign national to take charge of the team on a permanent basis, and only the second under Steve Gibson to arrive mid-season.

“A huge surprise among Boro fans, I would say, that Kim Hellberg is the front-runner and appears to be the next incoming Middlesbrough manager,” Penney told Football League World.

“Of all the managers linked, he was never a name that was strongly mentioned, it seemed like Boro were still quite a way off getting our new manager over the line, it didn’t seem like talks were that far advanced with anybody.

“So this has caught us completely by surprise, paired with the fact that it seemed like he was already well on his way to joining Swansea.

“This is a very rare type of appointment that Boro have gone with.

“We’ve gone for a foreign manager, which is extremely rare, we’ve only ever done that once in our whole history, which of course was Aitor Karanka back in 2013, which led to us getting promoted.

“And we have, only ever once under Steve Gibson, I think in 1991, brought in a manager from another club, and everyone assumes that we’d have to go with the usual Gibson archetype: British manager, out of work.

“It limits you massively, of course, and I didn’t think personally that we could be that limited at a time like this in the season.”

Penney is also excited by Hellberg’s arrival because he believes that the manner of his arrival shows the club are serious in their ambition to fight for promotion to the Premier League this season.

“So it’s really telling, and very, very interesting to see that Middlesbrough and Steve Gibson have seemingly gone completely against what we’d expect of them, and the usual type of hire, to get someone like Kim Hellberg.

“Which might tell you the level of ambition behind the club at the moment, and the strong desire to get themselves promoted out of the Championship.

“It may be a sign that what happened with Rob Edwards has lit a fire even brighter under Steve Gibson and he is more determined than ever, and would do anything to get the right man in, to get Middlesbrough over the line and promoted.

“The type of appointment is so different and interesting, I think it tells us that the club must really rate him, and are really going all out to get the right man.

“So, we’ll see, I don’t know much about him, I won’t pretend to know much about him at this stage, but it is certainly a very intriguing and exciting development for Boro fans.”

Middlesbrough are currently second in the Championship table after 15 games played, having earned 29 points from a possible 45.

Hellberg’s first potential game in charge could come on 22 November with a trip to Oxford United, if he is indeed appointed this week.

Kim Hellberg appointment is exciting for Middlesbrough

The speculation surrounding Edwards’ potential appointment wasn’t inspiring a lot of confidence in Middlesbrough’s ambitions for the rest of the season.

But the possible arrival of Hellberg turns that on its head now, as the Teesside outfit are going out and taking a risk on a coach that has done quite well abroad.

We’ve seen from Martí Cifuentes that moving from Hammarby, let alone Swedish football, to a Championship side can work quite well given how he did at QPR.

The last time Middlesbrough hired a foreign national to manage the first team they got promoted, so perhaps that will be a good omen for Hellberg.