“Leeds would be having our pants down” - Middlesbrough urged to snub future transfer agreement | OneFootball

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…

According to The Athletic, Middlesbrough have a £1.5 million option to buy with Leeds United as part of their loan agreement for Sam Greenwood.

Greenwood has bagged five goals and three assists in 26 outings since his move to Boro in the summer, including a crucial free-kick against Leicester City earlier in the campaign.

Boro were no doubt burned by the departure of Chuba Akpom in the summer, who had long been at the centre of much speculation after his 28-goal haul had earned no shortage of summer suitors, and his clear lack of interest in renewing terms on a new deal saw an eight-figure transfer to Dutch giants Ajax sanctioned.

Michael Carrick's side have had to find ways to plug that gap, but Morgan Rogers passed through the side quickly before a sale to Aston Villa in January, and the only attacking addition to be added in January was Finn Azaz.

Therefore, Middlesbrough's boss will be hoping that Greenwood and Azaz can be two players to soften the blow of losing key forwards in multiple windows now.

They are looking to bridge the gap to the likes of Sunderland, Coventry City and West Brom in the play-off race at the moment, but Greenwood's influence has dropped off during a time when the club have found points harder to come by.

The Championship side has until the end of the campaign to decide whether to retain the 22-year-old on a permanent basis. The versatile forward can be used as an attacking-midfielder, central-midfielder, or winger, but came through as a striker in his youth with Arsenal, which is where Boro have utilised him briefly as well.

In spite of that, he has failed to register a single meaningful goal contribution in any of the last five games in all competitions, and only once in the last ten games, too.

Middlesbrough's £1.5 million Sam Greenwood agreement

FLW's Middlesbrough fan pundit Dana Malt has been less than impressed with the 22-year-old's contribution of late, and despite promising early signs to his Boro career, she would not sign Greenwood in the summer for the £1.5 million fee.

She said: "I wouldn't sign Sam Greenwood. I think he has quite a limited impact on our games.

"It was true a couple of months ago that he was scoring some goals and playing well, now he's not playing well and not scoring goals, either.

"I just see him as quite a limited footballer, if I'm honest.

"I know that £1.5 million is quite a cheap amount in today's market but I think Leeds would be having our pants down if we were to pay that much for him."

Middlesbrough's Sam Greenwood issue

£1.5 million in today's market has a lot of potential upsides, given Greenwood's age and the resale value that he could hold.

He is a pre-peak player still developing, so in that sense it could be worth a low risk and high reward situation for Middlesbrough.

However, it's hard to disagree with Malt's damning assessment of Greenwood, who lacks plenty of attacking qualities outside of open-play ball-striking and set-pieces.

He would have to go on a fairly steep development curve and run of form within the next five months, if he is to secure a permanent switch to the Riverside.