Middlesbrough: Michael Carrick could look to Leicester City in January to soften Sol Brynn injury blow | OneFootball

Daniel Iversen could provide Boro with a safe and proven pair of hands with Brynn set to be out for the next three months...

Michael Carrick has confirmed that starting goalkeeper Sol Brynn is set for an extended spell on the sidelines with a dislocated shoulder, leaving him short of options in-between the sticks heading into the January transfer window.

Having been forced off through injury during Boro's Boxing Day draw with Sheffield Wednesday, further tests have revealed that Brynn is facing a recovery period of around three months.

This news comes at a highly frustrating time for both the player and the club, as the 24-year-old had been establishing himself as Carrick's new number one shot-stopper since mid-November, whilst historic starting keeper Seny Dieng has also been struggling with a hip problem.

As such, Middlesbrough went into their final game of 2024 against Burnley on 29 December with just one fit senior goalkeeper, Tom Glover, whilst teenage academy prospect Shea Connor was promoted to the matchday squad to be the backup.

With Boro's goalkeeping department now thrown into somewhat of a crisis, the Teessiders could turn to an out-of-favour, yet proven safe pair of hands at Championship level, residing at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester City goalkeeper Daniel Iversen could be a highly shrewd January addition for Middlesbrough

Having been linked with a summer move to Middlesbrough in 2022, Daniel Iversen is a name that will likely be familiar to a number of Boro supporters given the previous transfer talk, as well as his exploits in the Championship.

The 27-year-old ex-Denmark youth international has proven himself to be a strong and steady pair of hands in the second tier in recent years, having spent 18 months on loan with Preston between 2021-2022, as well as spending the second half of last season on loan with Stoke City.

It was from his time at Deepdale which spiked Boro's previous interest, with the Dane recording an impressive number of clean sheets during his Lilywhites career.

Having also recorded save percentages of 71.3 percent (20/21) and 69.6 percent (21/22) across his two separate campaigns with North End, Iversen evidenced his shot-stopping ability at second tier level to impressive effect.

However, he's struggled to carve out a meaningful role as a Leicester City player, and has once again found himself down the pecking order with the Foxes this season.

That's crucial to his potential availability, as is the fact that his contract at the King Power Stadium is set to expire at the end of the season, meaning that there's the potential for a cut-price deal to be had for Middlesbrough, as this could be Leicester's final chance to net a fee for him.

Iversen has been questioning his future as a Leicester player for a while, and admitted back in April 2024 that he tried to leave the club in the summer of 2023.

He'd also been heavily linked with an exit in this season's summer window, but no such move materialised despite being understood to have had a price-tag of just £1.5m.

Should he be available for that sort of price, or perhaps even cheaper in January, Middlesbrough could spot a potential bargain that could have the potential of not only acting as short-term cover, but possibly a long-term answer at the goalkeeping position too.

With just Dieng and Glover left as Middlesbrough's senior goalkeeping options, whilst both have differing amounts of credit in their Boro bank, neither have been able to win the total confidence of the Riverside faithful.

Dieng has seen a number of mistakes creep into his performances in the first half of the season, and, whilst being capable and having previously won Middlesbrough points through his saves, his 58 percent save percentage through his first 17 Championship appearances this season ranks him in the bottom 10 percentile of second tier goalkeepers - per FotMob.

As for Glover, he was granted an extended opportunity to win the starting gloves for Middlesbrough between December-February last season, when Dieng was absent through injury.

However, he was only able to keep one clean sheet in 12 Championship appearances last season, conceding 15 times in the process, with individual mistakes and poor decision-making being the cause for a number of those goals.

Therefore, despite successfully completing everything that was required from him in Boro's 0-0 draw with Burnley on 29 December, Glover hasn't perhaps not banked enough of those types of performances in a Middlesbrough shirt to warrant total confidence being placed in him to adopt the number one role for the remainder of the season.

As such, with the Teessiders hoping to win promotion to the Premier League in the second half of the campaign, the club's decision makers may well feel as though they need to add another pair of gloves in the January window to reduce the risk of a total crisis situation in the Boro goal.