Millwall were the undisputed winners of £8m Middlesbrough transfer deal | OneFootball

Millwall received a club-record fee when they sold George Saville to Boro in 2018, but the Lions would turn out to be the clear winners of the deal...

Millwall sold midfielder George Saville to Middlesbrough on a loan-to-buy deal in the summer of 2018, and given how his career has turned out, it's a transfer that the Lions emerged as the undisputed winners from.

Saville had signed on loan for Millwall on two separate occasions as a youngster, before making a permanent move to The Den from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2017, for a reported fee of just £350,000.

The 2017/18 season was a superb one for the central midfielder, as he scored 10 goals and provided one assist in 44 Championship appearances for the Lions, and that caught the attention of Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis.

Presenting a deal that Millwall simply couldn't refuse, Saville made the switch to the Riverside Stadium in the summer of 2018. He signed on an initial loan deal, but the two clubs agreed for the move to become a permanent one in January 2019 for a Millwall club-record sale of £8 million.

The trajectory of Saville's career in the years that have followed since that transfer was completed has ensured that Millwall will forever remain the victors of this exchange...

George Saville struggled to live up to £8m price-tag for Middlesbrough

Saville got off to a solid start shortly after his Middlesbrough move, as on his home debut at the Riverside Stadium, he scored with a smartly taken finish in a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers.

That was on matchday eight of the 2018/19 season, and he would have to wait until matchday 22 vs Queens Park Rangers to find the net again.

He would score just four times in 35 total appearances during his first season on Teesside, as he morphed from a central midfielder in the first half of the season, into more of a left-winger in the second.

The 2019/20 campaign would see him largely revert to his role in the middle of the park, but then Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate couldn't seem to get the best out of him.

He would score just two goals and register three assists in 40 total appearances that year, as Boro brushed alarmingly close to League One relegation that year, which required Neil Warnock to arrive late in the campaign to do some firefighting at the Riverside.

It would be Warnock that would be the Middlesbrough manager who got the most production out of the former Millwall man, as the 2020/21 season would be his last, and most fruitful during his time in the North East.

Six goals and four assists in 42 total appearances that term was his best return in a red and white shirt, but it still wasn't enough to ensure his long-term future with the Teessiders.

He was an important player for the club, and that was reflected in the number of games he played, but clearly Middlesbrough's decision makers felt like they needed more from their central midfielders than what Saville was offering.

George Saville's return to Millwall shows he was always more suited to the Lions

With one-year still remaining on his Middlesbrough contract, Boro decided to part ways with Saville in the summer of 2021.

Spotting the opportunity to reunite with their former star, Millwall came knocking, and a deal was swiftly agreed to take him back to The Den in early July.

Despite it being for an undisclosed fee, the Lions will not have paid anything close to the £8 million they sold him to Middlesbrough just years prior, and with that, Millwall were proclaimed as the clear winners of that previous transfer.

Making such a profit in the first place on Saville was a massive win, but then to get him back for what is an unknown fee, but one Transfermarkt estimates at €1.8 million (£1.5 million) shows very good business acumen from the South Bermondsey outfit.

Saville has been an integral part of Millwall's midfield ever since he returned, making 40+ total appearances in each of his last three seasons for the club, and he's likely going to hit that figure once more.

For Middlesbrough, Saville was an expensive capture that ultimately didn't make as much impact on Teesside, but he just fits into any Millwall system like a glove.