Wednesday, 3 August 2022 at 15:17• Wessel Antes

Middlesbrough is considering breaking the ten million euro barrier set up by FC Groningen for Jørgen Strand Larsen, reports journalist Reon Boeringa from Football International Wednesday afternoon. The English club is seriously interested in the 22-year-old striker and wants to meet the wishes of technical director Mark-Jan Fledderus.

Earlier this summer, bids from the Italian Bologna for the Norwegian were resolutely brushed aside. Reportedly, Bologna wanted to pay about seven to eight million euros for Strand Larsen. Then Fledderus indicated that a sale for Groningen was only negotiable with an excessive transfer fee. Middlesbrough seems to want to strike just before the start of the competition in the Netherlands. It is not known whether Strand Larsen sees a switch to the Championship.

Groningen took Strand Larsen in the summer of 2020 for 1.1 million euros from the Norwegian Sarpsborg 08, where the striker went through a large part of his youth academy. Larsen was loaned to AC Milan by Sarpsborg as a youth player, but failed to impress with the Under 19 team in Milan. Ultimately, Strand Larsen broke through in Sarpsborg’s main squad, scoring nine times in 61 official games and providing the same number of assists. At Groningen, the striker developed rapidly. Strand Larsen scored 26 goals and eight assists in 67 official games.

Last season, Strand Larsen impressed in particular with fourteen goals in the Eredivisie and three in the TOTO KNVB Cup. In addition to Bologna and Middlesbrough, Feyenoord also had him on the radar this summer. On a move to Middlesbrough, Strand Larsen will most likely match Marcus Berg’s outgoing transfer record. The Swedish striker left for Hamburger SV in 2009 for no less than ten million euros. After Berg, Luis Suárez (Ajax, 2007) and Ritsu Doan (PSV, 2019) are the highest outgoing transfers at FC Groningen with an amount of 7.5 million euros.