As the January transfer window closes, attention for Middlesbrough’s recruitment team quickly turns towards the summer.

That’s the nature of football recruitment and the ever-need to keep moving forward and evolving as a team. Of course, the difficulty for Boro in planning for the summer is that, right now, they don’t know what division they’ll be playing in.

But that won’t stop them having targets in mind for the summer, with the recent January transfer window completed to identify four obvious priorities ahead of the summer. We take a look at those priorities.

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Right-back

Boro decided against selling Anfernee Dijksteel last month and will keep him until the end of the season, at which point, he will be out of contract. As things stand, a new deal seems unlikely.

With Dijksteel likely to move on, Boro will have right-back in mind for the summer as they look for a long-term solution. On top of Dijksteel’s contract situation, Luke Ayling’s form this season will be an obvious concern. He will have another year on his deal at the end of the campaign.

Boro did sign young starlet Josh Dede from Celtic last month. Initially, he will be linking up with the under-21 squad as Boro take a look at him and allow him the time to adapt to a new club. There’s an obvious pathway there for him though, if he can hit the ground running. You wouldn’t even rule out seeing him in the first-team before the end of the current season.

Centre-back

Letting Matt Clarke leave for Derby County last month means Boro now have three fit senior centre-backs. Darragh Lenihan remains at the club but his return from a 15-month injury lay-off remains unknown at this stage.

Centre-back will no doubt be a huge priority for Boro in the summer though. If promotion is achieved there will be a natural need to strengthen in an area of the pitch that has been an Achilles heel this season. On top of that, added depth may be needed because it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Carrick use a back five more often in the top flight.

If promotion isn’t achieved, there’s a high probability that Rav van den Berg will choose to move on for the next stage of his fledgling career, something head of football Keiran Scott was open about at the start of the campaign. Centre-back will be a priority focus.

Centre midfield

Given Boro tried to sign a central midfielder in January, it will be an obvious area for focus heading into the summer too. Dan Barlaser will enter the final 12 months of his Boro contract, while Jonny Howson’s campaign will leave his future in doubt with his deal up at the end of the season.

Add to that the fact that Hayden Hackney was the subject of two rejected offers from Porto, he was another who Scott mentioned last summer in relation to players they’d struggle to keep at the end of this season if promotion wasn’t won. With all that in mind, Boro might end up needing more than one midfielder in the summer.

Striker

After selling Emmanuel Latte Lath this month, Boro have made a short-term replacement in Kelechi Iheanacho, who joins on loan from Sevilla. With the no purchase option included, Boro will be looking closer at other strikers between now and the summer transfer window.

While Iheanacho could really impress on Teesside and earn a permanent move, he would have to take a significant pay cut to return if Boro don’t win promotion. And with that in mind, Boro will have to have a long-term striker target in mind.