Selling De Roon for a profit is good business

THE departure of Marten de Roon, which was forecast in the Sunday Sun a few weeks ago, has created mixed reaction on Teesside. There are those Boro fans who believe that De Roon was a top player while others feel he was no better than the other members of the club’s midfield squad.

Certainly the Dutchman made a very slow start to his year-long spell on Teesside. He struggled initially to find his feet in the Premier League.

However De Roon always displayed plenty of commitment to the cause and this grew stronger as the season progressed.

He was essentially signed by Aitor Karanka as a defensive midfielder and did not possess a natural instinct to push forward.

Yet De Roon’s positive attitude was emphasised by the fact that he began to push forward on occasions and was rewarded with five goals, which made him the club’s joint second top goalscorer.

This is by far the best tally of goals compared to any previous season in his career.

De Roon also did enough to break into the Dutch national side for the first time and has won two caps so far.

At the same time, it always looked likely that he would be one of the departing Boro players this summer.

The big bonus for Boro is that they have made a profit on the midfielder. In this respect the transfer represents a very good piece of business for the Boro.

De Roon is not an exceptional midfielder. He is not usually game-changing, while little is seen of him during some games.

So, while we should wish De Roon well in the future, his loss is not something to lose sleep over.