It’s four months since Riley McGree played the last of his 30 games for Birmingham City. A 4-0 away defeat to Blackburn Rovers was no way to usher in the Christmas period nor end a Blues career that had started to blossom.
The Australian first came to Blues as one of the final signings of Aitor Karanka’s 2020 summer transfer window and yet for all the heralding of the arrival of the "Scorpion King", he was never really given much of a chance. Karanka went for months without using him and it was something of a surprise when Blues opted to retain him for the first half of this season. And then Tahith Chong got injured.
With a path to Lee Bowyer’ s first team finally uncovered the Australian gave a series of bright, sparky displays, showing much needed-urgency at a time when gloom was descending. He certainly showed enough to warrant further retention.
Yet the narrative was that parent club Charlotte wouldn’t budge, that they saw him as integral to their inaugural MLS campaign. So integral they sold him to Middlesbrough at the first opportunity. Well, maybe the second, he almost joined Celtic first.
Quickly it became apparent that they were only too happy to sell, for a price beyond Birmingham City. So how has the 23-year-old done since he moved to the Riverside Stadium?
He’s certainly doing better now than he first was, when it took him a month to make his first appearance.
He has battled for fitness but in recent weeks has been given more opportunities, starting three of the last four matches. Then on Saturday he scored his first goal for Boro, in their 1-1 draw with Swansea.
Chris Wilder was pleased with his performance at the weekend, saying: “I thought he was outstanding today. In a way, he was one you wanted to
Read more on msn.com
msn.com
