Middlesbrough Nears £7 Million Deal for Ashley Phillips

Middlesbrough are closing in on a £7million deal for Ashley Phillips as Tottenham’s summer clear-out gathers pace and Kim Hellberg doubles down on a promotion charge.

The Championship club are set to pay an initial £7m fee, with further add-ons potentially taking the final cost higher, and the 21-year-old defender is due to undergo a medical before completing the move. Spurs have also secured a sell-on clause, protecting their long-term interest in a player they only signed last year.

It is another bold swing from Middlesbrough, who have tracked Phillips all summer and are now preparing to raid Tottenham for the second time in this window. They already smashed their transfer record last month to land striker Will Lankshear in a deal that could climb to £20m. Now they want Phillips to anchor a defence built for a sustained tilt at the top two.

Hellberg’s side came agonisingly close last season, only to fall to Hull in the play-off final in May. That defeat has clearly sharpened their intent. This is not a club quietly licking its wounds. This is a club spending like it expects to be back on the Wembley stage — and to finish the job.

Phillips fits that ambition. At 21, he has already gone past the 100-game mark in the Championship, a rare level of experience at his age. Spells with Blackburn, Plymouth and Stoke have hardened him to the rhythm of the division: three games a week, tight grounds, direct football, and no hiding places for centre-backs who switch off.

Tottenham moved for him in 2023, paying £2.5m to Blackburn, who cleverly inserted a 15 per cent clause on any profit from a future sale. With this deal, Rovers are now in line for their cut, a tidy reward for developing one of the most sought-after young defenders in the EFL.

For Spurs, Phillips becomes the latest academy product to depart permanently this summer. Lankshear has already gone to Middlesbrough, while Alfie Devine and Tynan Thompson have also left as the club leans heavily into player trading to reshape Ange Postecoglou’s squad and balance the books.

The numbers are stark. Tottenham are edging towards £100m raised in outgoing transfers once the Phillips deal is finalised. They have already spent £237m on new arrivals in this window and still expect to bring in two or three more signings before the deadline next month.

This is the modern Premier League equation: big spending at the front end, meticulous selling at the back. For Middlesbrough, though, the calculation is simpler. They are paying for proven Championship know-how and betting that Ashley Phillips is the defender who can turn last season’s heartbreak into a promotion parade.