Middlesbrough should axe 2023 signing in favour of academy duo: View | OneFootball

Tom Glover endured an underwhelming debut season as Boro's backup keeper, and there's two academy graduates waiting in the wings to replace him.

Middlesbrough goalkeeper Tom Glover has been the subject of previous transfer interest, and after a subpar season on Teesside, Boro should consider selling him with academy duo Sol Brynn and Zach Hemming ready to make the first team leap.

Celtic and Rangers were both credited with an interest in the Australian international during the closing stages of the 2023/24 season, in what could be a sign that there would be a market for him should Boro decide to sell.

Jamie Jones has made a permanent switch to Salford City, and in turn, has blown the competition for the second and third-choice goalkeeping roles wide open for the new season.

With Seny Dieng locked in as Michael Carrick's number one, Glover, Brynn and Hemming are now locked in a battle for first team opportunities for 2024/25, and it's Middlesbrough's pair of academy graduates that should get the nod.

When Glover arrived from Melbourne City last summer, he would've been hoping to join the historic and growing line of Australians to earn a place in Teesside folklore.

Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer, Brad Jones, and more recently, Riley McGree and Rhys Williams, many players from Down Under have made successful careers in the North East.

But for Glover, that looks to be growing ever more unlikely, as a disappointing debut season in English football has placed question marks over his Middlesbrough mortality just one season into his four-year contract.

Glover was presented with the opportunity to stake his claim to be Middlesbrough's number one goalkeeper last season, as Dieng missed a chunk of time after suffering a thigh injury in mid-December.

However, just one clean sheet in 12 Championship matches during Dieng's absence ensured that the Senegalese international would swiftly be reinstated in between the sticks once he'd regained fitness.

Glover's big break came and went, with a clean sheet ratio of 0.09 per 90 minutes that placed him in the bottom 18 percentile of Championship goalkeepers, whilst his 1.36 goals conceded per 90 was bettered by 50 percent of second tier keepers - per FotMob.

Some academy prospects get thrust straight into the first team and never look back, some enjoy a gradual rise via cup cameos to eventual league action, and some are made to learn their trade away from their club.

For 23-year-old Brynn, the latter certainly applies, having spent the last three seasons - including a brief spell with Darlington in 2020/21 - out on loan, spending time in the EFL and in Scotland.

Queen of the South provided Brynn's first extended taste of senior football, where he'd make 21 appearances in all competitions for the then Scottish Championship side.

Then came his first opportunity in the EFL, spending the duration of the 2022/23 season in League Two with Swindon Town, where he'd win their Player of the Year award that season after playing every single league game.

Brynn made the step-up to League One last season, making 42 appearances in the third tier for Leyton Orient, where he would again scoop up further accolades as he won the Leyton Orient Supporters Club Away Player of the Season.

With two years remaining on his Middlesbrough contract, and after passing his previous loan tests with flying colours, Brynn must surely now have shown enough to be handed a real opportunity to become a first team player under Carrick.

Another Middlesbrough academy goalkeeper who's followed a similar path to that of the aforementioned Brynn, 24-year-old Hemming has also returned to Rockliffe Park this summer with a point to prove to Boro's coaching staff.

Like Brynn, he also spent a brief period in non-league football with Darlington and Blyth Spartans respectively, before heading north of the border to the Scottish league.

After two seasons with Kilmarnock in which he made 46 league appearances for the club at both Scottish Championship and Premiership level, Hemming extended his time in Scotland with another loan move to St Mirren last season.

It was there that he really showed what he could do, playing every single minute of the Buddies' 23/24 Premiership season, one that saw the club finish fifth in the top-flight, securing a Europa Conference League spot for next season.

Hemming has already been handed the chance to impress Carrick and his coaching team during pre-season, having replaced Dieng to play the full second half of Middlesbrough's 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers last weekend.

Contracted to the club for a further two years, handing Hemming the chance to become a first team player this season presents as an ideal time for Boro to observe the level that he's at, before he enters into the final 12 months of his deal.