Kim Hellberg needs January 2026 to come around ASAP - £6m man cannot arrive at Middlesbrough soon enough | OneFootball

Adilson Malanda is set to link up with Middlesbrough this January, having agreed a deal for the Frenchman in the summer

The January transfer window is less than a month away, and Middlesbrough will already be looking forward to one arrival set to come through the doors at the turn of the new year, having agreed a deal with MLS side Charlotte for French centre-back Adilson Malanda in the summer.

18 games into the Championship season, and Middlesbrough sit in second place, in what has been an excellent campaign on Teesside thus far.

Despite sitting ten points off Coventry City, you'd do well to find any Boro fan who wouldn't have taken this position at the start of the season.

However, it hasn't been all smooth sailing at The Riverside this season, with Swedish head coach Kim Hellberg coming in to replace the outgoing Rob Edwards, who, having only joined the club in the summer, decided to jump ship at the first available opportunity to link up with Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Understandably, this upset many Boro fans, leaving them in an awkward position of having to search for a new head coach despite their place in the upper echelons of the table, with interim boss Adi Viveash taking charge of three games in the absence of a permanent head coach.

Boro swooped in to bring Hellberg to the North East under the noses of Swansea City, who looked set to bring him to South Wales, and in his first game in charge, Boro battled back from 1-0 down to prevail 2-1 victors over Derby County at the weekend.

The Swede will have one eye set on the January window for potential reinforcements in the squad, but one piece of business was conducted long before his arrival, and at the turn of the new year, he is finally set to link up with the automatic promotion contenders, much to the undoubted delight of Hellberg.

In August 2025, Middlesbrough agreed a £6 million ($8 million) fee with MLS side Charlotte to sign French defender Malanda, with the 24-year-old penning a five-and-a-half-year deal on Teesside, but spending the rest of the MLS season on loan with the American outfit.

Under former Brentford and Aston Villa manager Dean Smith, Charlotte finished the MLS season in seventh place, with Malanda making 33 appearances across the 2025 campaign, scoring once, and is now set to make the switch from the United States to England this winter.

Malanda started his career with French outfit Nimes, but would never make a first-team appearance for the club, moving to Rodez in Ligue 2 for the 2021/22 season, making 33 appearances in the French second tier, attracting the attention of Charlotte.

The Frenchman moved to North Carolina in August 2022 and has been a regular in the side for the last three years, making 116 appearances across all competitions for the side.

When asked about the prospect of facing former teammate and USMNT forward Patrick Agyemang, who incidentally netted Derby's only goal against Boro at the weekend, Malanda said: "Be ready, I’m coming!"

Malanda will join up with the Boro squad immediately upon the turn of the new year, in what is an exciting addition for Hellberg's side.

Middlesbrough's excellent start to the 2025/26 EFL Championship season doesn't appear to be a flash in the pan, but more a genuine statement of intent towards promotion.

Under Edwards, Boro were flexible in their shape, switching from a 3-4-3 to a 4-2-3-1 depending on the match, and in Hellberg's first game in charge, he chose to line up with the latter.

Though Newcastle United loanee Matt Targett, who is naturally a left-back, was forced to start as a centre-back in their game against Derby alongside Alfie Jones, with Dael Fry, Darragh Lenihan, George Edmundson, and Luke Ayling all out injured.

Both Lenihan and Edmundson have missed large portions of the campaign, so the arrival of the Frenchman will be a welcome addition to the squad for 2026.

Chairman Steve Gibson backed his side during the summer, with the likes of David Strelec, Sontje Hansen, Abdoulaye Kante, and Kaly Sene all joining the club this summer alongside Malanda.