Matt Crooks extends Middlesbrough stay to round off a busy week for Michael Carrick's side

After Alex Gilbert’s arrival from Brentford earlier this month, Michael Carrick has landed five more of his summer transfer targets with two players heading for the exit, whilst fan favourite Crooks has now signed a contract extension.

Crooks has made over 80 appearances for Boro during his two years with the club after joining from Rotherham United in 2021.

The 29-year-old was, however, entering the final year of his contract before putting pen to paper to extend his stay until the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

Crooks scored seven times as Boro made it to the Championship play-offs last season whilst off the pitch the midfielder was named community player of the year.

The news of Crooks’ new deal has followed a flurry of transfer activity on Teesside after five new players joined the club before the end of their warm weather training camp in Portugal – Carrick’s side securing a 1-0 victory over Vitória De Guimarães in the Algarve.

Boro set the ball rolling by seeing off strong competition to land 18-year-old Dutch defender Rav van den Berg with reported interest from the likes of Bayern Munich and Serie A duo AS Roma and AC Milan.

The youngster, who is the brother of Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg, arrived of a four-year deal from Eredivisie side PEC Zwolle for an undisclosed fee.

Van den Berg was quickly followed by Sam Silvera after the attacking midfielder joined on a three-year deal from Central Coast Mariners.

Silvera scored eight goals and provided five assists to help the Mariners win the A-League championship for the first time in 10 years last season and has also represented the Australian under-23s side.

Silvera was joined by fellow Australian Tom Glover who added to Carrick’s goalkeeping ranks when also putting pen to paper on a three-year deal at the Riverside after leaving A-League side Melbourne City on the back of three successive Premiership titles.

Glover is a product of the Tottenham Hotspur academy and earned a call-up to the Australian national side this summer.

Manchester City’s Morgan Rogers signed a four-year deal with the club to add to Carrick's attacking options – the 20-year-old spent last season on loan with Blackpool where he made 22 appearances.

Rogers developed through the ranks at West Bromwich Albion before the highly-rated youngster moved to the Etihad in 2019 having also represented England’s youth team up to under-20s level.

And Boro rounded off a number of new signings with the arrival of Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Seny Dieng.

The 28-year-old Senegalese stopper signed a four-year deal with Boro with Carrick having found his replacements for Manchester City’s Zack Steffen, who returned to the Etihad this summer following a successful loan spell at the Riverside last season.

Dieng, an African Cup of Nations winner, made over 120 appearances for the R’s and hit the headlines last season when scoring a dramatic late equaliser at the Stadium of Light in a 2-2 draw with Sunderland.

And after a busy week, head coach Carrick admits he has been pleased to see his new group of players bed in during the club’s pre-season training camp in the Algarve ahead of their UK-based friendly fixtures which begin at Hartlepool United’s Suit Direct Stadium on Friday, July 14.

"It’s been a busy week of getting some new faces in, and exciting talent through the door, and trying to get them settled in as quickly as possible in and around the players,” said Carrick.

“Creating friendships and relationships off the field is important and there’s no better way of doing that than when you’re away and you’re together for the whole time.

“Some [of the new signings] haven’t trained very much before they got here, some have, so it’s been about getting the balance with that, but they’ve enjoyed it and they’ve settled really well and we’re delighted to have them all.”

The Boro boss added: “It's been a long time in the making.

"It’s a thorough process. It’s not like we decided on Monday morning ‘lets sign him, him and him,’ there’s a lot to it.

"Of course we would have loved for them to be in from the start but it’s the way it falls, it can be complicated. But we’re delighted to have them here.

“It’s still early in pre-season, they've got loads of time to settle in and bed in and the games are coming up so it’ll be exciting to see how they do.”

With six new arrivals through the door for Boro, it has also allowed the club to move two players on with both Marc Bola and Sol Brynn heading out of the Riverside.

Bola completed a move to Turkish Super Lig side Samsunspor in a permanent transfer having made over 100 appearances for Boro across a four year spell with the club.

The former Arsenal youth defender joined the club from Blackpool in 2019 before enjoying a loan move back at Bloomfield Road in 2020.

Bola became a regular for Boro in the 2020-21 campaign before injuries and form saw him face competition for his place in recent seasons.

The 25-year-old made 27 appearances last season, the last of which came in a 1-0 defeat to Rotherham, before making the switch to Turkey for an undisclosed fee.

Meanwhile, young goalkeeper Brynn has again headed out on loan for the 2023-24 campaign after agreeing a switch to newly promoted Leyton Orient in League One.

Brynn impressed during his loan spell in League Two last season with Swindon Town with the Teessiders agreeing a new deal with the 22-year-old this summer.

But, after the arrivals of both Glover and Dieng, Brynn has been allowed to continue his development out on loan next season in the Football League.