Kamara: Reward outweighs the risk of a hefty Rhodes punt for Boro
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Middlesbrough may be looking like they are more than willing to splash the cash in the transfer window, with a further £12m bid for Blackburn’s Jordan Rhodes rejected this week.
That comes after the Riverside club spent £5m on bringing Stuart Downing back to the north east after his spell at West Ham.
While it could be seen as a foolish approach to simply through obscene amounts of money at a promotion push, Ladbrokes ambassador Chris Kamara thinks the reward outweighs the risk.
“You can never overspend in the Championship. If you look at the money at stake if you get to the Premier League, then it’s worth every single penny that you spend,” he told Ladbrokes News.
“But one thing we do know it that money cannot guarantee you success, and certainly the Championship is the hardest division of the lot to call.”
The biggest deal in the English second tier last summer was undoubtedly the £11m signing of Ross McCormack from Leeds to Fulham.
For Fulham, it’s fair to say that move didn’t particularly pay dividends, the Scot started off very slowly in his spell at Craven Cottage last season, netting just five times in 21 games before Christmas.
While he came good in the end, the Cottagers were never in the position to push for a return to the Premier League.
“You pay your money, you take your chance when it comes to these big money signings,” says Kamara.
“The only thing you can say that if they sign him for that amount of money and he fires them to the Premier League, then he is worth every penny. Whereas if they sign him and he ends up like Ross McCormack, and starts off very slowly, then you might lose out, but they only way you find out by buying him.”
The necessity to sign strikers isn’t lost on Kammy though.
“They’ve lost a few goals over the summer though. They’ve lost top scorer Patrick Bamford they’ve lost Lee Tomlin as well as Jelle Vossen, so that is 33 goals that they are missing this time around, so I can understand why they are after the likes of Jordan Rhodes. “
Ultimately though, whether they sign him or not might not be the defining factor of Boro’s season.
Having come so close to a return to the big time, Aitor Karanka’s men found only Norwich too strong at Wembley to deny them.
And in the end, according to the man born in the town, how they bounce back will be key.
“You never know how the disappointment of a play-off defeat will affect them, some clubs respond well and become stronger the next season, and others don’t.”
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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