No surprises for guessing who's staying and who's not

MIDDLESBROUGH announced their retained list on Friday, and in truth there were few surprises.

- By CRAIG JOHNS Football writer

Talks will continue with Jonny Howson and will likely see the soon-to-be 37-year-old sign a new contract as a reward for his end-of-season form and continued influence he has at the club.

While this summer Boro will want to get to a stage where they're increasingly less dependent on the veteran on the pitch, the fact is that Howson is still such a valued member of the club and deserves one more year.

For Anfernee Dijksteel, he will leave the club after six years' service. Despite enjoying his best season since Carrick's arrival this term, the right-back who joined the club from Charlton Athletic in 2019 as part of the 'golden thread' recruitment drive is in many ways a victim of the decision the club took a year ago to hand Luke Ayling a two-year contract.

The deal for the former Leeds United man was a reward for his impressive loan spell and there were few of a Boro persuasion who had anything bad to say about the deal at the time. But with fitness struggles throughout the campaign, Ayling hasn't been able to reproduce his loan form.

As such, Dijksteel has been able to enjoy regular game-time this term and enjoyed some top nights, scoring three cracking goals over the course of the campaign. Were the decision based purely on who had been the better this season, Dijksteel would likely still be a Boro player next term.