Middlesbrough's £20m Will Lankshear gamble has a hidden upside

Lankshear's spectacular brace against Charlton Athletic provided another reminder of just how special a finisher Middlesbrough have acquired. Both goals were excellent left-footed efforts, although the second was arguably the finest of his professional career to date.

He is making an extraordinary impact at the Riverside Stadium, and the reported £10 million initial fee, as per BBC Sport, is already looking like outstanding business. However, the widely reported £20 million headline figure includes approximately £10 million in potential add-ons, meaning Boro are not necessarily committed to paying the full amount.

If they do, it will be a club-record deal. The exact conditions of that have not been publicly confirmed yet, but they could — and indeed are likely to include — appearances, goals, assists, promotion from the Championship, and potentially even international recognition, such as an England call-up.

There is often a downside to these arrangements, with clubs sometimes finding themselves committed to expensive conditional payments or future obligations that eat into subsequent transfer budgets. That's an inherently risky strategy for any club, let alone ones without parachute payments aiding them. Yet Lankshear could be a very different proposition for Boro.

If Middlesbrough are paying those additional sums because he has helped them achieve major sporting objectives, particularly promotion, then the extra money will hardly represent a costly mistake. It should actually feel like a drop in the ocean to them on current trajectory.

In fact, a young English striker who fires Boro into the Premier League would suddenly be worth considerably more than £20 million, making those add-ons a relatively small price to pay for an extraordinary investment. Spurs are protected somewhat by matching rights for Lankshear, but while hindsight is a wonderful thing, it's already looking like a far better deal for Boro than Tottenham as time goes by.

Will Lankshear has already proved he can score goals in difficult circumstances and in a dominant team

Lankshear's may be killing it for Middlesbrough but his development has not been entirely straightforward, with his first Championship loan at West Bromwich Albion failing to deliver the impact he would have wanted in January 2025 for half a season.

However, his subsequent spell at Oxford United was considerably more productive, scoring 12 goals despite playing for a side that created relatively little and ultimately suffered relegation to League One back in May.

His story is a reminder that development is rarely linear, and he is now demonstrating exactly why Tottenham invested so heavily in him as a youngster. Under Hellberg, Lankshear looks like the division's best natural finisher and penalty-box poacher, too. Their attack-minded style of play means he is guaranteed plenty of chances.

If he maintains this form and stays fit, he could even start to eye up and begin dreaming of challenging Aleksandar Mitrovic's extraordinary Championship record of 43 goals in a single season for Fulham. That remains a monumental target, but his start has been outstanding.

England could eventually benefit from Middlesbrough's investment

There is also a potentially significant international dimension to Lankshear's development. He has the profile to become a serious England contender, with the long-term ambition of eventually succeeding Harry Kane as the national team's leading centre-forward.

There are not many players worthy of competing with Kane, but Lankshear is on the right path. The parallels are interesting, too, given Kane's own progression through a series of EFL loan spells before establishing himself at Tottenham.

The difference is that Spurs have now cashed in on Lankshear rather than sending him out on another temporary deal. His finishing repertoire is already impressive, having scored regularly with both feet and his head this season. He is becoming a remarkably complete penalty-box striker.

Spurs correspondent and journalist Alasdair Gold has even hinted at the Kane-esque comparison recently after seeing Lankshear's strike against the Addicks. It's fair to say that if Lankshear continues on this trajectory, Tottenham could eventually find themselves collecting those add-ons through his England progress as well as the aforementioned club achievements.

For Boro, that would be a very welcome problem to have. It would mean they have a player worth more than double, and possibly even triple, what they paid on their hand. Not only that, but they would be a Premier League club again, meaning they would have Lankshear to face the likes of Spurs and Arsenal and prove a point to two north London clubs that let him go in his early career.

The new Middlesbrough centre-forward has been one of the signings of the summer at either £10 million or £20 million, truth be told.