Middlesbrough turned notorious £9m recruit into major flop: View | OneFootball

Middlesbrough Football Club and strikers, a relationship that has aired its dirty laundry at the Riverside Stadium for as long as it's been called home.

Aside from a golden period that spanned a couple of years either side of the millennium, many a striker has been handed employment on Teesside over the years, only to end up working the graveyard shift.

As such, seldom do you see even the most optimistic of Boro fans get overly excited when a new arrival in that department walks through Rockliffe Park's storied doors.

The deadline day arrival of Jordan Rhodes back in 2016 was a rare exception, however, as his ruthless record in front of goal had earned him a reputation as one of the most feared forwards in the Championship.

Suitably then, it was of no shock to see Rhodes' Middlesbrough career fall comfortably short of the one envisioned by the club, and thus has gone down as one of Boro's most expensive flops in recent memory.

FLW investigates the surprisingly disappointing career that was Rhodes' spell at Middlesbrough.

Jordan Rhodes' prolific record

Goalscorers are priceless commodities, with every club in the land scouring the globe for that player who'll fire their club to greatness.

And in the case of the EFL during the late 2000s-early 2010s, there was arguably no striker more renowned for knowing where the back of the net was than Rhodes.

His 35 goals for Huddersfield Town during the 2011/12 season comfortably secured him the golden boot that year, and tempted Blackburn Rovers to break their transfer record the following season in order to sign the Scotsman, in an £8m deal.

Any question marks over his ability to score goals at Championship level were swiftly answered, as in the three seasons that followed at Ewood Park, Rhodes would register 26 (12/13), 25 (13/14) and 21 (14/15) goal campaigns respectively.

Middlesbrough make their move for Rhodes

On 1 February 2016, Aitor Karanka's Middlesbrough sat in second place in the Championship, with a four point cushion over Burnley.

Boro's top brass worked late into the deadline day night as they attempted to seal a deal with Rovers for Rhodes, and that's exactly what they did. He signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the club, in a transfer that was worth an initial £9m.

Rhodes would make 18 Championship appearances for Boro, with a respectable six goals and three assists to his name between his arrival and the final day.

Despite six goals not quite being the tally he nor the club would've dreamed of in the second half of that season, there were some vital strikes from the then 26-year-old that proved instrumental in what would be an automatic promotion winning campaign.

Perhaps his finest hour in a Middlesbrough shirt came on a gloomy afternoon at what was then the Macron Stadium in Bolton, as his two late goals kept Boro top of the Championship. But with Premier League football coming back to the Riverside for the following season, would Rhodes finally earn his chance at doing what he did best among the world's best?

Karanka snubs Rhodes

Then Boro boss Aitor Karanka was able to capture quite the coup, as former Manchester City striker Alvaro Negredo swapped Valencia for a loan move to Teesside, and as such acted as a significant playing time roadblock (pun intended) to Middlesbrough's expensive recruit from only months prior.

And Negredo it was who would become Karanka's go-to forward for goals, with another promotion hero in Cristhian Stuani also emerging as his second choice option.

Credible reports began to emerge of Rhodes' potential departure in just his first transfer window as a Boro player, but the club would keep hold of their possession they once fought tooth and nail for to secure, for now.

As the January window rolled around, however, Karanka would make some desperate additions to the forward line in an attempt to keep his side's necks above water in the top flight, as Patrick Bamford and former Blackburn teammate Rudy Gestede, arrived respectively.

Those deals would prove to be the final straw, as a year later to the day that he walked through the doors at the Riverside, he was gone, as he moved back to the Championship in a deal worth up to £10m with Sheffield Wednesday.

Even despite his big money move to Middlesbrough, it never totally felt like Karanka wanted Rhodes as much as perhaps Boro Chairman Steve Gibson and his boardroom did.

As such, the story of Rhodes' time on Teesside is one of a player who'd proven his worth in goals, but couldn't charm a manager whose side was desperate for them. It's a tale of misplaced trust, and a hard to stomach "what if we just gave Rhodes a chance that season?" from many a confused supporter.

Despite that, Rhodes would still speak fondly of his time in the North East in a recent interview with local media site, Teesside Live, saying: "My half-season at Middlesbrough was everything that you dream of as a child. Getting promoted to the Premier League felt like fulfilling that dream.

"To have gone up in dramatic style, was incredible... It was great to put on the Boro shirt, especially with my teammates at the time, and it was great to see the town so elated for being back in the Premier League."