Premier League relegation robbed Middlesbrough chance to build around star midfielder: View | OneFootball

Marten de Roon was one of Middlesbrough's standout players in 2016/17, but Premier League relegation stole Boro's chance of keeping the midfielder.

Premier League relegation in 2016/17 robbed Middlesbrough of the chance to build a team around their star midfielder, Marten de Roon.

Signed from Serie A side Atalanta in the summer of 2016, Boro splashed out a reported £12m on the Dutch international, as Aitor Karanka looked to piece together a squad that was capable of surviving in the top-flight.

But despite acquiring the services of big-name players such as Alvaro Negredo and Victor Valdes, Middlesbrough were unable to avoid relegation from the Premier League that year, and as a result, the club had to part with many of their key assets.

De Roon was one of Boro's standout performers that term, which meant that there was a feeling the central midfielder wouldn't be sticking around in the Championship, and it proved to be correct as he moved back to Atalanta in 2017.

The Dutchman's achievements since - both domestically and internationally - would suggest that Middlesbrough missed a golden chance to build a successful top-flight team around the midfielder.

Football League World investigates De Roon's impact during his short stint on Teesside, how he's fared since leaving the North East, and why he could've helped lead Middlesbrough into a bright Premier League future.

Marten de Roon looked comfortable playing at Premier League level

The Premier League is an unforgiving and ruthless division. If you can't swim in its incredibly testing waters, you get found out very quickly.

So, whilst the speed of the game at that level perhaps moved too fast for others in a Middlesbrough shirt at times, De Roon looked at home on the big stage.

Boro's troubles of retaining possession and consistently putting patterns of play together undoubtedly cost the team dearly, but it also provided fertile ground for De Roon to show the ability he possessed in multiple facets of the game.

De Roon's 67 aerial duels won was only bettered by eight percent of Premier League central midfielders in the 2016/17 season, whilst his four goals, 1,736 touches, 43 interceptions and 177 recoveries ranked him in the top 86.7, 75.2, 83.2 and 75.2 percentiles of top-flight players in his position - per FotMob.

Whether it was making important tackles in and around Boro's box, or making late runs into and scoring goals in the opposition's, De Roon's impact was felt all over the pitch.

Speaking after his Manchester United side beat Middlesbrough 3-1 in March 2017, then United boss José Mourinho said on De Roon via Teesside Live: "Boro have a good team, a solid midfield. This kid De Roon is phenomenal, his work-rate is phenomenal, they're solid and they play direct. We had to fight it, and I have to admit it was hard for us."

De Roon's post-Boro success evidences Middlesbrough's missed opportunity

After Middlesbrough's relegation to the Championship was confirmed, De Roon's former side Atalanta moved quickly to ensure he'd be back playing Serie A football in no time, with Boro selling him back to the club they'd purchased him from for a reported fee of £13m.

Speaking on his time on Teesside in an interview with Dutch news outlet AD via Teesside Live, De Roon stated: "It was not a fun year. There was a split in the group between Spanish and English speaking boys. We were not a close team and did not grow together."

De Roon and Middlesbrough may have missed the opportunity to grow together, but that certainly wasn't to be the case with the Italian club.

Atalanta is where the Dutch international has called home ever since, as he entered the 2024/25 season still being an important part of the club's midfield aged 33.

Making hundreds of appearances for the club, De Roon was able to secure his first piece of silverware in his playing career last season, as he lifted the Europa League trophy after his Atalanta team triumphed over Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin.

In regard to his international career, the industrious midfielder represented the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the 2020 European Championship.

It doesn't do the mind the world of good to reflect on ifs, buts and maybes when it comes to what a player could have achieved at a club if things had turned out differently, but it's interesting to ponder how much success De Roon could've enjoyed on Teesside had Middlesbrough stayed up that season.

With the leader he was on the pitch, he could've been the natural successor to Grant Leadbitter's captains armband, perhaps leading the side back towards the club's top-flight glory days of the late 90s-mid 2000s.

That's something Middlesbrough supporters will never know for certain. But, what is clear is that dropping out of the Premier League in 2017 stole any chance of finding out the answer to that question from the club, as a future European cup winner and national team star slipped through their fingers.