very much a virtue as window to remember

THEY say patience is a virtue, but it’s not something handed out too freely in the modern, social media age.

- By CRAIG JOHNS

That's particularly true in the world of football, where we all want everything - especially transfers - as soon as possible.

But if there’s one thing to be learned from Middlesbrough's summer, and what looks on paper to have been an incredibly successful transfer window in the end, it’s that the old proverb about patience is still true.

After a slow start to the summer transfer window, patience really has been the name of the game.

Never more so has that been encapsulated by the fact that, despite Boro starting the season with only three new signings - one of whom signed in the week of the first game against Swansea City too - seven of the 11 they've ended the window with were all targets at the very start of the summer.

Only their three loan signings were not planned targets. In the cases of Matt Targett and Alan Browne, Boro have simply used market availability to strengthen areas in their squad needed due to circumstance.

In the case of Sverre Nypan, that's more akin to the Ben Doak loan of last season and taking an unexpected opportunity on a player they'd previously scouted and believe is a difference maker.