Will Leroy score a Lita goals for Boro?
Leroy Lita’s arrival at the Riverside means Gareth Southgate finally snapped up a striker who the fans can at least hope will actually put the ball in the back of the net in the Championship this coming season!
The departure of Mido this week paved the way for the 24-year-old former England Under-21 international to replace him. And, at first glance, it looks like a good bit of business by the Boro boss.
However, as with the vast majority of transfers, the arrival of Lita does entail several risks given the way he dropped off the radar while at Reading for the past two seasons when he appeared to fall out with Steve Coppell and spent time farmed out on loan at clubs like Charlton and Norwich.
It suggests he might have a disruptive side to his nature and hopefully it will not be swapping like-for-like with regards to the Egyptian pie-muncher.
Another down side is the fact Lita has not spent the pre-season with a club which means he arrives three days before Boro kick-off the Championship season against Sheffield United at the Riverside having no friendly action under his belt. Therefore it could take several weeks to get Lita in the full swing of things which we could have done without!
Looking at the positives, though, and Lita’s record shows he can grab a goal in every three games and that would mean at least 15 this season. If he can add a few more to that and Boro can get somebody else into scoring mode then it would greatly enhance our chances of reaching the play-offs – possibly better!
In the meantime I am hoping Southgate can get his finger out and try and get in another striker if, or when, Tuncay is snapped up as we are constantly being told he will be at some point this summer.
An experienced bone crunching midfielder who has been there and worn the T-shirt in the battleground of Championship football would be nice too given the way we were ruffed up in our final two friendly games at Oldham and Millwall.
Get those in the bag and I might start feeling confident about this season!
Written by Craig Smithson, a Middlesbrough season-ticket holder and a sports writer who blogs about football betting.
