After struggling with injury and form at Everton and finding his chances very limited at Goodison Park, Bosnia and Herzegovina international midfielder Mo Besic joined Middlesbrough in January 2018 shortly after Tony Pulis’ appointment last Christmas.

Besic made his debut against Cardiff City in the Championship after falling out of favour at Everton following his move to the Toffees in 2014 from Hungarian club Ferencváros for £4million.

After having to sit out the entire 2016/17 campaign with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and with Everton having made a bunch of summer signings Besic found his opportunities under Ronald Koeman and subsequently under Sam Allardyce very limited in the first half of the season on the Blue half of Merseyside.

So Besic opted for game time under Pulis at Boro and the midfielder responded with 1 goal in 15 appearances for the Teesiders as he became trusted by the Boro boss and started both playoff games vs Aston Villa which unfortunately Boro came off second best in.

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Pulis does not mess around when it comes to his squad as he made decisive transfer moves in the January transfer window to trim the players at the Riverside.

Finishing in the playoffs this season was a bonus for Tony Pulis and Steve Gibson as they look to put together a squad which can not only achieve promotion to the Premier League but can stay in the top tier of English football for a sustained period and enjoy consistent success.

It will be interesting to see how Pulis operates in this coming summer transfer window as the Boro boss seriously looks to place his stamp on the Middlesbrough player options but signing Mo Besic permanently looks like it would be a good move for both parties.