Middlesbrough transfer truth emerges over potential Sol Brynn replacement | OneFootball

Boro may be looking for some Sol Brynn competition this summer, but one name has been ruled out

After their play-off heartbreak at the hands of Hull City back in May, it is fair to say that Middlesbrough haven't exactly had the kind of start to the summer transfer window that a club that will be wanting to chase promotion normally has.

Handed a second chance of a return to the Premier League thanks to the Spygate scandal involving Southampton, Boro could not take advantage, and instead they'll ply their trade once more in the Championship again in the upcoming 2026-27 season.

But with the sale of Hayden Hackney to Everton - in a move that was always likely going to happen to one of many Premier League clubs - and academy graduate centre-back Dael Fry opting to snub a new contract at the Riverside Stadium in order to move to divisional rivals Birmingham City after playing 296 times for the first-team, it's not exactly been the best start to head coach Kim Hellberg's summer.

Fresh faces coming through the door on Teesside would be very welcome indeed - Myles Peart-Harris has arrived on a free transfer from Oxford United to bolster squad depth in the final third, and Jeremy Sarmiento's loan from Brighton has turned permanent due to an obligation - yet Boro fans are desperate for more incomings.

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One area of the pitch that is likely going to be a big talking point this summer is the goalkeeper position, with Sol Brynn being first-choice throughout the most recent season.

However, Brynn made a string of sometimes costly errors in-between the sticks, including parrying the ball straight to Oli McBurnie's feet in stoppage time of the play-off final to hand Hull a ticket to English football's top flight, and with a 'Goals Prevented' stat of -6.6, as per FotMob, which was the fourth-worst in the league last season, it's clear to see that a new goalkeeper could be high on Hellberg's list.

One name that has been mentioned recently as a target in reports over in Poland is Legia Warsaw stopper Kacper Tobiasz.

The 23-year-old's contract at Legia came to an end this summer, meaning he is a free agent, and a report from the European country has suggested he is set to sign for a Championship club on a free transfer.

However, despite those links to Tobiasz's services, it is being claimed by TeessideLive that the second tier club who are set to sign him will not be Boro - meaning a rival club has swooped in to land the stopper's services.

Kacper Tobiasz may not have been the right fit for Middlesbrough after all

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Tobiasz played UEFA Conference League football for Legia last season after they failed to make it through Europa League qualifying, but he wasn't always the first-choice in-between the sticks for manager Marek Papszun, who in the second half of the season preferred the younger option of Otto Hindrich instead after he arrived in the January transfer window.

Despite only conceding 26 times in the Ekstraklasa from 22 outings, it's not a great sign that Tobiasz was dropped for the final few months of the campaign, although perhaps it was known at that point he was to be on the move, and Papszun favoured the future in the form of Hindrich.

And in terms of regularly-performing goalkeepers in that division, Tobiasz ranked only 13th of 17 when it came to Goals Prevented, with a stat-line reading -3.2 - albeit that is slightly better than Sol Brynn.

Perhaps Tobiasz is not the answer at Middlesbrough anyway, but Brynn definitely needs some sort of competition going into the new season - a challenge for the starting spot could bring some improvement and consistency out of the Boro academy gradute.