QPR can chuckle at Middlesbrough transfer exit news | OneFootball

Queens Park Rangers supporters will find time to chuckle at the latest development of Seny Dieng's time at Middlesbrough.

Transfer sagas tend to have stark winners and losers and the Seny Dieng saga of 2023 has had one massive winner and one massive loser three years on.

In the summer of 2023, Queens Park Rangers sold Senegal international goalkeeper Seny Dieng to Middlesbrough for a fee believed to be in the region of £2 million, signing what was a four-year contract at the Riverside Stadium.

In the three seasons that have gone since that move from West London to Teesside, Dieng's stock and reputation has rapidly declined - leading to his departure from 'Boro this week.

Three years into that four-year deal, Middlesbrough have now allowed Dieng to depart the club, ripping up his contract by mutual consent so that he can move to Greek side Atromitos on a free transfer.

Foregoing any possibility of a transfer fee for a player that cost £2 million will certainly sting The Smoggies and provide QPR, both within the club's hierarchy and their supporters, a touch of 'schadenfraude'.

Seny Dieng established himself at QPR

Having come through the academy at Red Star Zurich in Switzerland, Seny Dieng made his way into professional football at Grasshoppers in the early-2010's.

A struggle there saw him again struggle for games at Duisburg in Germany before he moved to England at the age of 23, having trials with Barnsley and Rochdale before signing for AFC Fylde in the National League.

After a short stint on the Lancashire coast, Dieng moved to QPR in August 2016 - spending much of his first three seasons in England's capital city on loan at Dundee, Stevenage, Hampton and Richmond Borough and Whitehawk.

Dieng eventually signed a new contract at Loftus Road in the summer of 2019 and, after an impressive stint on loan at Doncaster Rovers in the following campaign, got his chance with The R's.

Two Player of the Month awards, 11 clean sheets, the most saves of any goalkeeper in the division and the Players' Player of the Year award followed as Dieng began to become a fans' favourite and establish himself as one of the better 'keepers in the Championship, not necessarily out of nowhere but certainly riding the wave of a rapid rise.

More in and out the side under Mark Warburton in the 2021-22 season, Dieng returned to being the 'number one' at QPR in the 2022-23 campaign, a season headlined by a late equalising goal for The Hoops against newly-promoted Sunderland. Remarkably, that was his second career goal after previously scoring for Whitehawk against Chippenham Town.

A nomadic goalkeeper when he arrived, Dieng had transformed into one of the league's best operators and a genuine saleable asset for the Londoners - the best case scenario after his free transfer from Fylde seven years earlier.

Seny Dieng began well before declining at Middlesbrough

QPR cashed in on the Dieng, with the Senegalese shot stopper moving to 'Boro for a hefty fee for a goalkeeper in the second-tier, even as recently as 2023.

Praised by Michael Carrick, earning plaudits for his ability to play out from the back - having previously showcased his true goalkeeping talents at QPR, 'Boro must have believed they had landed a stellar talent as they finished in the play-off places, especially as he fought back to reclaim the role as first-choice after a thigh injury ruled him out for seven games mid-way through the season and then on the bench for a further four matches.

A shakier start to the 2024-25 season began the end for Dieng at 'Boro with a three-game absence due to illness in late-November followed by the concession of 4 goals in two games against the eventually automatically promoted pair of Burnley and Leeds United - mistakes against the latter costing him his starting spot a few days' later at home to Millwall.

Injuries and Carrick's preference for Mark Travers or even Sol Brynn and Tom Glover between the sticks meant that that game against Leeds would be his final competitive outing for the club.

A spiral for Seny Dieng at Middlesbrough now has its end

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Having fallen behind Brynn and Glover in the pecking-order once he had returned from an Achilles injury last season, Dieng failed to make a match day squad for the Teessiders before a reported move to Feyenoord in January.

That loan move eventually collapsed, albeit he did manage to join crisis club Sheffield Wednesday on an emergency loan deal in the spring of 2026 - desperate for minutes and games.

This summer has Middlesbrough go big in the market to bring in goalkeeper Radek Vitek from Manchester United and his long-awaited departure from the Riverside has now been confirmed, leading to Dieng now finally able to leave again - likely desperate to regain his spot what will now be Patrick Vieira's Senegal squad after missing out on FIFA World Cup 2026.

It would be unfair to suggest that the pre-QPR version of Dieng is what 'Boro supporters witnessed because it had begun well before injuries and inconsistency, albeit the former perhaps more important, took a hold.

It would not, though, be unreasonable to say that QPR fans will still take some solace that the £2 million that they pocketed for a player picked up on a free from Fylde did not leave them with regret.