Transfers, review, kits, pre-season and more - things to expect at boro in june

The summer officially starts as May turns to June this weekend, which also signals the end of the 2024-25 season and the start of preparations for next season. At Middlesbrough, that

planning has already begun in earnest, with club officials continuing to conduct a review into last season and the changes that need to be made to ensure that there is no repeat of Boro’s

highly disappointing campaign. Michael Carrick’s side finished the campaign in tenth. With ambitions as ever to make marked improvements to go on and compete for promotion next season, June

is always the month where planning and preparation really starts. After a rather barren May following the conclusion of the season, there will be plenty to keep your eyes peeled for during

the month of June. THE REVIEW At the end of a disappointing season in which Boro failed to achieve their target of a top-six finish, a thorough review was promised as the club looked to take

a deep dive into all departments to ensure everything was running effectively. With promotion an ever-harder target for clubs not in receipt of parachute payments, clubs need everything

working smoothly to have a chance. As yet, three weeks after it was revealed that the review would be taking place, there is not yet an outcome. While that is causing some frustration among

supporters due to the lack of clarity, ultimately, it was always promised this would not be rushed. Given that pre-season doesn’t begin until the end of June, Boro always felt they could

afford to take their time with this in order to leave no stone unturned. But as we move into June, we should at least expect some clarity at some point within the next month. With the major

news line of the review ultimately being whether head coach Michael Carrick continues in his role next season, at the very least we’ll know that answer by the end of June because he either

will or won’t be involved in the first day of pre-season. While that remains uncertain for now, the growing expectation is that he will be given at least one more season to get things right

in Teesside. Ideally, we won’t have to wait until the first day of pre-season to find out that news though - with some kind of communication from the club, either officially or otherwise,

welcome to provide supporters with clarity and answers on what the review has found/determined in order to draw a line under it and to allow supporters to look ahead with clarity too.

TRANSFERS With June comes the official opening of the transfer window - or in this year’s case, the opening of two transfer windows. Due to the newly-revamped Club World Cup, Fifa are

allowing a second, earlier transfer window this summer, mainly to allow those clubs taking part in the USA tournament to add to their squad before it starts. That first transfer window opens

on June 1 and lasts ten days. The window then closes for six days and re-opens on June 16, which is the start of the usual summer transfer window. That one will remain open right up until 7

pm on September 1. Although there are two separate windows during the month of June, exactly how much activity we should expect remains to be seen. Though Boro’s review isn’t impacting

planning for the summer recruitment drive, there isn’t an expectation for any activity at Boro in the initial ten-day window. That’s because most players are away on holiday and so there

isn’t much opportunity to progress deals. Boro have at least five primary summer targets locked in and will be continuing over the month of June to progress said deals. There’s an

appreciation that the earlier deals can be done the better, even if sometimes that just ultimately isn’t possible. By the end of June though, as players return from holidays and start to

return to clubs for the start of pre-season, we can expect things to move transfer wise. Even free agents tend not to make too much movement, officially at least, until July, with their

deals at existing clubs running until July 1. As certain players prefer early clarity, however, there are some deals already being announced. KITS This summer will see Boro release new kits

under a new kit supplier, as their three-year reunion with Errea comes to an end. That partnership will officially end on June 1, which means at some point next month we can expect official

confirmation on who the new kit supplier will be and, off the back of that, what the new kits will look like. As ever, there will be plenty of intrigue and excitement around the new kits.

PRE-SEASON This week, Boro confirmed their first pre-season friendly of the summer, as they head to Glasgow in July to take on Rangers at Ibrox. The friendly will come in the middle of their

summer preparations for the new campaign and within the next month we can expect to receive details of the remaining games they’ll play. Should everything be agreed with potential

opponents, the expectation is for a summer schedule not too dissimilar to recent years, with a week-long Portugal training camp ending with a training match as well as some away friendlies.

The summer should then end with a home friendly the weekend before the start of the new season. The games themselves will be played in July, but expect announcements throughout June. The

players themselves are back at Rockliffe at the end of the week commencing June 23 for their initial fitness testing. The first full week of pre-season training starts on Monday, June 30.

INTERNATIONALS Boro have a handful of first-team players involved in international football over the summer. Tommy Conway will play friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein on June 6 and

9 for Scotland, while Riley McGree and Tom Glover could be involved in Australia’s World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia on June 5 and 10. Meanwhile, Hayden Hackney is

expected to be part of England’s U21 Euros squad, which is announced on June 6. Rav van den Berg is confirmed to be part of the Netherlands squad for the same tournament, for which the Young

Lions are defending champions. That tournament in Slovakia takes place between June 11 and 28. The result of international involvement will mean all five players will be granted extra time

off this summer, thus missing at least some of Boro’s pre-season. FIXTURE RELEASE DAY Boro will learn their fixture list on Thursday, June 26 at 12 pm, which is a little later than recent

years. It’s a day of planning and getting excited about potential trips - with the first trip to Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground for a league match likely to be one particular match on the radar

of most. On the same day, Boro will also learn their Carabao Cup first round opponent. The draw for the cup is made at 4.30 pm on Sky Sports. Boro were drawn away to Leeds United last

season and after making it through that stage, were then comprehensively beaten by Stoke City at the Riverside in round two.