Opinion: Middlesbrough would be wise to avoid potential transfer deal for Hull City player

With three games left of their Championship season to play, Middlesbrough are still in the running for a play-off spot – however they are going to have to perhaps win all three of their remaining matches to secure it.

The Teessiders would also need other results to go their way, which means that the next week and a half is going to be tense times for everyone involved at the Riverside Stadium if it goes to the final day of the 2021-22 season.

On the law of averages currently, Boro will be likely remaining in the second tier of English football for another season, and if that’s the case then Chris Wilder will get a full summer to mould the playing squad into how he sees fit.

A promotion winner with Sheffield United in 2019 to the Premier League, Wilder will know what is needed and what kind of characters are necessary, so that’s why it was a surprise to see Hull City forward Mallik Wilks linked with a switch to Boro this week by the BBC’s David Burns.

Burns also claimed that Boro made an approach for the 23-year-old in the January transfer window – Wilks though remained with the Tigers but has featured briefly just once since the turn of the year following an injury and subsequent fitness issues.

Wilks has mainly scored goals at League One level, having prolific stints in the third tier on loan at Doncaster Rovers and then last season permanently with Hull, having netted 19 times in 44 appearances.

In a Hull side that struggled somewhat in the first half of the current campaign though, Wilks scored just three times in 20 outings, which may not be a true representation of his talents.

He is quite clearly technically gifted but Wilks can drift in and out of games and his goal record this season would be a cause for concern.