How much it cost Middlesbrough FC for every goal Britt Assombalonga scored | OneFootball

FLW look at Britt Assombalonga's cost per goal at Middlesbrough.

Britt Assombalonga was undoubtedly one of the Championship's standout strikers during the 2010's.

Beginning his professional career at Watford, Assombalonga's rise through the English football pyramid started much further down the ladder, with loan spells at Wealdstone, Braintree Town, and Southend United helping him to develop his game.

He eventually left Watford for Peterborough United, and from that point onwards, his career took an upward trajectory.

A prolific season at Posh earned him a move to Nottingham Forest, followed by a successful spell at Middlesbrough. In 2023, he returned to the Hornets, though he struggled to make a significant impact during his second stint at the club.

Known for his explosive pace, physical strength, and clinical finishing, he is a name renowned with EFL fans and at FLW we have opted to take a look at his big-money move to Boro in 2017.

His four-season spell at the Riverside was marked by consistency in front of goal, but given the significant fee the club paid, the question remains: did Boro get value for money? To assess this, we've examined his cost per goal and considered whether, in hindsight, the signing truly paid off.

Britt Assombalonga's £15 million Middlesbrough move assessed per goal

The 2016/17 season was a harrowing one for Middlesbrough, as their return to the top flight ended in disappointment, with the club collecting just 28 points and suffering relegation straight back to the Championship.

Goals were a major issue for Boro, with their attacking trio of Álvaro Negredo, Cristhian Stuani, and Rudy Gestede struggling to find the net on a consistent basis. Looking to address their lack of firepower, the club moved swiftly to bring in prolific second-tier goalscorer Britt Assombalonga that summer, signing him for a then - and still - club-record fee of £15 million.

To this day, it remains understood to be the third-most expensive signing in Championship history, with only Mike Trésor’s summer move to Burnley and Rúben Neves’ 2017 transfer to Wolves surpassing it.

During his four seasons at the club, Assombalonga registered a respectable return of 47 goals in 161 appearances. His most prolific campaign came in 2018/19, when he netted 16 times in 46 matches as Boro narrowly missed out on the play-offs by just a single point.

However, when breaking down the cost per goal, the numbers don’t make the most encouraging reading for Middlesbrough. With a £15 million transfer fee and 47 goals to his name, Assombalonga's goals effectively came at a cost of £319,148 each - a substantial outlay per strike.

To compound matters, he only contributed two assists during his entire time at the Riverside, meaning that when he wasn’t scoring, he offered little in terms of creativity or link-up play for his teammates.

Britt Asssombalonga wasn't good value for money when it was all said and done for Middlesbrough

If you remove the price tag from Assombalonga’s Middlesbrough move, you could argue he was a solid signing. His output was consistent, if not spectacular, and Boro could always rely on him for goals.

However, football is a business, and the £15 million they forked out for the Congolese striker cannot be ignored. Given that fee, it’s clear that he didn’t fully live up to expectations, as such an outlay in the second tier would usually demand 20+ goals per season.

To make matters worse for the Teessiders, he left the club on a free transfer in 2021, joining Adana Demirspor, meaning they were unable to recoup any of the £15 million they had invested four years earlier.

A brilliant player at his best, Assombalonga will always be remembered as a top Championship goalscorer, but a closer look reveals that his time at Boro ultimately proved to be a financially unsuccessful one.