# 2018–19 Middlesbrough F.C. season

The 2018–19 season was Middlesbrough's second consecutive season in the Championship in their 143rd year in existence; the club also competed in the FA Cup and the EFL Cup.

## Season overview

The 2018–19 transfer window is club manager Tony Pulis' first official summer transfer window as Middlesbrough manager. Pulis' first signing of the window was a defensive Paddy McNair, arriving from rivals Sunderland for £5 million. Bristol City star defender Aden Flint subsequently joined the club for a fee of £7 million. Sam Stubbs and Djed Spence then joined the reserves, both on free transfers, arriving from Wigan Athletic and Fulham respectively. As August emerged, Andy Lonergan joined the club on a free transfer from rivals Leeds United. On 8 August 2018, Middlesbrough completed the signing of Jordan Hugill from West Ham United on a season-long loan deal.
Tomás Mejías, Martin Cranie, Tom Brewitt, Liam Cooke, Liam Hegarty, Jakub Sinior, Keiran Storey, Robbie Tinkler, Jay Wilson and Matthew Elsdon were all released at the end of the 2017–18 season. Antonio Barragán then left the club to join Real Betis permanently, having spent the previous season on loan there, while Mikael Soisalo and Fábio left to join Zulte Waregem and Nantes respectively. Players who were loaned out included Joe Fryer to Carlisle United, Hayden Coulson to St Mirren, Luke Armstrong to Gateshead, George Miller to Bradford City. The club then said their goodbyes to their team superstars: striker Patrick Bamford to Leeds, centre-back Ben Gibson and winger Adama Traoré.

## Squad
### First team squad

    As of 30 August 2018.
| Squad No. | Name | Position(s) | Date of Birth (Age) | Previous Team |
| Goalkeepers ||||||
| 1 | Dimitrios Konstantopoulos | GK | (1978-11-29)29 November 1978 (aged 39) | AEK Athens |
| 23 | Darren Randolph | GK | (1987-05-12)12 May 1987 (aged 31) | West Ham United |
| 31 | Andy Lonergan | GK | (1983-10-19)19 October 1983 (aged 34) | Leeds United |
| Defenders ||||||
| 3 | George Friend | LB | (1987-10-17)17 October 1987 (aged 30) | Doncaster Rovers |
| 4 | Daniel Ayala | CB | (1990-11-07)7 November 1990 (aged 27) | Norwich City |
| 5 | Ryan Shotton | RB | (1988-10-30)30 October 1988 (aged 29) | Birmingham City |
| 14 | Sam McQueen L | LB | (1995-02-06)6 February 1995 (aged 23) | Southampton |
| 20 | Dael Fry | CB | (1997-08-30)30 August 1997 (aged 21) | Academy |
| 24 | Aden Flint | CB | (1989-07-11)11 July 1989 (aged 29) | Bristol City |
| 25 | Nathan Wood | CB | (2002-05-31)31 May 2002 (aged 16) | Academy |
| Midfielders ||||||
| 7 | Grant Leadbitter | DM / CM | (1986-01-07)7 January 1986 (aged 32) | Ipswich Town |
| 8 | Adam Clayton | DM / CM | (1989-01-14)14 January 1989 (aged 29) | Huddersfield Town |
| 15 | Julien De Sart | DM | (1994-12-23)23 December 1994 (aged 23) | Standard Liège |
| 16 | Jonny Howson | CM | (1988-05-21)21 May 1988 (aged 30) | Norwich City |
| 17 | Paddy McNair | DM / CM | (1995-04-27)27 April 1995 (aged 23) | Sunderland |
| 19 | Stewart Downing | AM / LM / RM | (1984-07-22)22 July 1984 (aged 34) | West Ham United |
| 21 | Marvin Johnson | LW | (1990-12-01)1 December 1990 (aged 27) | Oxford United |
| 26 | Lewis Wing | AM | (1995-05-23)23 May 1995 (aged 23) | Shildon |
| 27 | Harrison Chapman | AM | (1997-11-05)5 November 1997 (aged 20) | Academy |
| 28 | Marcus Tavernier | LW | (1999-03-22)22 March 1999 (aged 19) | Academy |
| 37 | Muhamed Bešić L | DM | (1992-09-10)10 September 1992 (aged 25) | Everton |
| Strikers ||||||
| 9 | Britt Assombalonga | ST | (1992-12-06)6 December 1992 (aged 25) | Nottingham Forest |
| 10 | Martin Braithwaite | CF / FW | (1991-06-05)5 June 1991 (aged 27) | Toulouse |
| 11 | Jordan Hugill | ST | (1992-04-06)6 April 1992 (aged 26) | West Ham United |
| 18 | Ashley Fletcher | ST | (1995-10-02)2 October 1995 (aged 22) | West Ham United |
| 39 | Rudy Gestede | FW | (1988-10-10)10 October 1988 (aged 29) | Aston Villa |
* L = Player on Loan

## Competitions
### Pre-season friendlies

As part of their pre-season preparations, Middlesbrough faced Sturm Graz, Spennymoor Town, SV Sandhausen, Accrington Stanley, Rochdale and Hartlepool United. Their match against Sunderland was abandoned at half-time because of storm conditions.

### Championship
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 4 | West Bromwich Albion | 46 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 87 | 62 | +25 | 80 | Qualification for Championship play-offs |
| 5 | Aston Villa (O, P) | 46 | 20 | 16 | 10 | 82 | 61 | +21 | 76 | Qualification for Championship play-offs |
| 6 | Derby County | 46 | 20 | 14 | 12 | 69 | 54 | +15 | 74 | Qualification for Championship play-offs |
| 7 | Middlesbrough | 46 | 20 | 13 | 13 | 49 | 41 | +8 | 73 | |
| 8 | Bristol City | 46 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 59 | 53 | +6 | 70 | |
| 9 | Nottingham Forest | 46 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 61 | 54 | +7 | 66 | |
| 10 | Swansea City | 46 | 18 | 11 | 17 | 65 | 62 | +3 | 65 | |
* ↑ Four teams play for one spot and promotion to the Premier League.

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A |
| Result | D | W | W | W | W | D | L | W | D | D | W | L | W | D | D | D | W | W | D | L | D | L | W | L | W | D | W | D | W | D | L | W | W | D | L | L | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | L | W | W |
| Position | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 |

#### Result summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 4 May 2019. Source: BBC Sport

#### Matches

On 21 June 2018, the Championship fixtures for the forthcoming season were announced.

### FA Cup

The third round draw was made live on BBC by Ruud Gullit and Paul Ince from Stamford Bridge on 3 December 2018. The fourth round draw was made live on BBC by Robbie Keane and Carl Ikeme from Wolverhampton on 7 January 2019.

### EFL Cup

On 15 June 2018, the draw for the first round was made in Vietnam. The second round draw was made from the Stadium of Light on 16 August. The third round draw was made on 30 August 2018 by David Seaman and Joleon Lescott. The fourth round draw was made live on Quest by Rachel Yankey and Rachel Riley on 29 September. The draw for the quarter-final was made live on Sky Sports by Jamie Redknapp and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on 31 October.

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Fee | Team |
| 1 July 2018 | DF | Harold Essien | Manchester City | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Aden Flint | Bristol City | £7,000,000 | First team |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Paddy McNair | Sunderland | £5,000,000 | First team |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Sam Stubbs | Wigan Athletic | Free | Academy |
| 4 July 2018 | RB | Djed Spence | Fulham | Free | Academy |
| 2 August 2018 | GK | Andy Lonergan | Leeds United | Free | First team |
| 18 August 2018 | CM | Dan Ward | Newcastle United | Free | Academy |
| 1 January 2019 | CM | George Saville | Millwall | £8,000,000 | First team |
| 24 January 2019 | DM | John Obi Mikel | Tianjin TEDA | Free | First team |

### Transfers out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Fee | Team |
| 1 July 2018 | RB | Antonio Barragán | Real Betis | Undisclosed | First team |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Tom Brewitt | AFC Fylde | Released | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Liam Cooke | Free agent | Released | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Martin Cranie | Sheffield United | Released | First team |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Matthew Elsdon | Barrow | Free | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | RB | Liam Hegarty | Free agent | Released | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | GK | Bobby Jones | Wigan Athletic | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | GK | Tomás Mejías | Omonia | Free | First team |
| 1 July 2018 | DM | Jakub Sinior | Hellas Verona | Free | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | RW | Mikael Soisalo | Zulte Waregem | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Keiran Storey | Free agent | Released | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | DM | Robbie Tinkler | Gateshead | Free | Academy |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Jay Wilson | Free agent | Released | Academy |
| 13 July 2018 | CM | Lewis Maloney | Gateshead | Free | Academy |
| 18 July 2018 | LB | Fábio | Nantes | Undisclosed | First team |
| 30 July 2018 | AM | Callum Cooke | Peterborough United | Free | Academy |
| 31 July 2018 | CF | Patrick Bamford | Leeds United | £10,000,000 | First team |
| 5 August 2018 | CB | Ben Gibson | Burnley | £15,000,000 | First team |
| 8 August 2018 | RW | Adama Traoré | Wolverhampton Wanderers | £18,000,000 | First team |
| 31 August 2018 | DM | Julien De Sart | Kortrijk | Free transfer | First team |
| 1 January 2019 | LB | Nathan McGinley | Forest Green Rovers | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 9 January 2019 | GK | Connor Ripley | Preston North End | Undisclosed | First team |
| 28 January 2019 | RW | Harry Chapman | Blackburn Rovers | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 29 January 2019 | CM | Grant Leadbitter | Sunderland | Free transfer | First team |
| 31 January 2019 | CF | George Miller | Barnsley | Undisclosed | Academy |

### Loans in

| Start date | Position | Name | From | End date | Team |
| 8 August 2018 | CF | Jordan Hugill | West Ham United | 31 May 2019 | First team |
| 23 August 2018 | DM | Muhamed Bešić | Everton | 31 May 2019 | First team |
| 30 August 2018 | LM | Sam McQueen | Southampton | 31 May 2019 | First team |
| 31 August 2018 | CB | Danny Batth | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 28 January 2019 | First team |
| 31 August 2018 | CM | George Saville | Millwall | 31 December 2018 | First team |
| 1 January 2019 | LW | Rajiv van La Parra | Huddersfield Town | 31 May 2019 | First team |

### Loans out

| Start date | Position | Name | To | End date | Team |
| 1 July 2018 | GK | Joe Fryer | Carlisle United | 31 May 2019 | Academy |
| 9 July 2018 | LB | Hayden Coulson | St Mirren | 17 October 2018 | Academy |
| 16 July 2018 | CF | Luke Armstrong | Gateshead | 31 December 2018 | Academy |
| 16 July 2018 | CF | George Miller | Bradford City | 30 January 2019 | Academy |
| 27 July 2018 | GK | Aynsley Pears | Gateshead | 31 May 2019 | Academy |
| 3 August 2018 | MF | Alex Pattison | Yeovil Town | 31 May 2019 | Academy |
| 9 August 2018 | GK | Connor Ripley | Accrington Stanley | 8 January 2019 | First team |
| 29 August 2018 | LB | Nathan McGinley | Forest Green Rovers | 31 December 2018 | Academy |
| 30 August 2018 | CB | Enes Mahmutovic | Yeovil Town | 1 January 2019 | Academy |
| 31 August 2018 | LM | Marvin Johnson | Sheffield United | 31 May 2019 | First team |
| 9 November 2018 | CF | Tyrone O'Neill | Hartlepool United | 31 December 2018 | Academy |
| 3 January 2019 | CF | Martin Braithwaite | Leganés | 31 May 2019 | First team |
| 11 January 2019 | CF | Luke Armstrong | Accrington Stanley | 31 May 2019 | Academy |
| 31 January 2019 | LB | Hayden Coulson | Cambridge United | 31 May 2019 | Academy |
| 31 January 2019 | DM | Ben Liddle | Forest Green Rovers | 31 May 2019 | Academy |
| 31 January 2019 | CB | Sam Stubbs | Notts County | 31 May 2019 | Academy |
| 31 January 2019 | AM | Stephen Walker | Milton Keynes Dons | 31 May 2019 | Academy |
| 7 February 2019 | GK | Andy Lonergan | Rochdale | 21 February 2019 | First team |