Middlesbrough release Marvin Johnson, Jordan Archer and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing

Strikers Britt Assombalonga and Ashley Fletcher will also be released.

Damian Spellman
Friday 28 May 2021 05:56 EDT
Marvin Johnson (left), Jordan Archer (centre) and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (right) have been released by Middlesbrough
Marvin Johnson (left), Jordan Archer (centre) and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (right) have been released by Middlesbrough (PA)

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Marvin Johnson, Jordan Archer and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing will leave Middlesbrough when their contracts expire at the end of next month, the Sky Bet Championship club have announced.

The trio have not been offered new contracts and will head for the exit along with strikers Britt Assombalonga and Ashley Fletcher, whose impending departures were confirmed by manager Neil Warnock before the end of last season.

A statement on the club’s official website said: “The club has announced its retained list for the 2021-22 season with a number of last season’s first team squad to become free agents from July 1.

“Strike duo Britt Assombalonga and Ashley Fletcher head up the list of departures – as had already been confirmed by manager Neil Warnock before the end of last season – along with Marvin Johnson, Jordan Archer and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who have not been offered new contracts.”

Assombalonga and Fletcher, who cost a total of £21.5million during the summer of 2017, and midfielder Johnson were all signed by former boss Garry Monk, who also brought Johnny Howson to the club.

Howson, like Paddy McNair, Anfernee Dijksteel and Marc Bola, has signed a contract extension and remains a key part of Warnock’s long-terms plans.

Johnson made 43 appearances for the Teessiders last season and January signings Archer and Mendez-Laing were used six and nine times respectively.

Striker Tyrone O’Neill, who made one senior appearance for the club as a substitute in a 4-0 Championship defeat at Leeds in November 2019, is one of a series of under-23s players not to be offered a new deal.

Meanwhile, 26-year-old QPR goalkeeper Joe Lumley, who played six times for Rangers last season either side of loan spells at Gillingham and Doncaster, will join Boro when his existing contract expires.

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