Will Lankshear's Impressive Debut for Middlesbrough
Will Lankshear needed just 61 minutes in a Middlesbrough shirt to show exactly why the club pushed so hard – and paid so much – to get him.
One chance. One clean, ruthless volley. Tie over.
His debut strike, a crisp finish in the second half, was enough to edge out Wrexham in a tight EFL Cup first-round contest and give Boro a first real glimpse of the forward they hope will change the feel of their attack this season.
The reaction from head coach Kim Hellberg was instant and emphatic.
“I've seen the trainings and he's the best finisher I've ever seen in terms of left foot, right foot, how hard he shoots, his headers,” the Swede told BBC Radio Tees, refusing to play down the scale of his praise. “I'm not surprised he can do these goals.”
That is some statement from a coach who has watched plenty of forwards up close. But Lankshear has arrived on Teesside with a reputation and a price tag to match. The 21-year-old England Under-21 striker joined from Tottenham Hotspur in a deal initially thought to be worth £10 million, a clear sign of Boro’s determination to add cutting edge to the intricate approach play that underpinned last season’s push.
Against Wrexham, separated from Boro by just two places in the Championship last term, the margins were always likely to be fine. The game felt like one that would be decided by a single moment of quality or a single mistake. Lankshear provided the former.
When the chance finally came, he didn’t snatch at it. He didn’t hesitate. He simply did what natural finishers do: set himself, connect cleanly, and leave the goalkeeper with no real say in the outcome.
For a club still nursing the bruises of promotion heartache in May, that kind of cold-blooded certainty in front of goal is exactly what they have been searching for.
Yet for Hellberg, the fascination with Lankshear goes beyond the numbers and the highlight reel.
“The best thing with him is how he is as a person,” the head coach said. “How hard he works, how much he wants to learn, how quick he is to adapt. That's been absolutely brilliant.
“Add on to that, the quality he has, he's an unbelievable player and he's just going to get better.”
Those are the words that will really resonate around the training ground. Talent is one thing; temperament is what sustains it. Boro are reshaping and regrouping, folding new faces into a squad that came close but not close enough last season. In that context, a young striker willing to graft, listen and adjust at speed is worth just as much as a spectacular debut goal.
Lankshear has already delivered both.
If this is only the starting point, the question for Middlesbrough is no longer whether they have finally found the finisher they craved – but just how far his goals can carry them this season.
