Southgate looking to Emnes

Emnes: High hopes

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Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate is looking for Dutch forward Marvin Emnes to make a big impact next season.

The 21-year-old was signed by Boro last summer in a £3.2million deal, but Southgate immediately indicated Emnes was 'one for the future.'

He was barley used for much of the campaign, until the last few weeks of their eventual doomed campaign.

During his handful of appearances he performed well and left many wondering why he had not been used earlier.

Now Southgate is predicting a big future for Emnes: "Marvin can definitely cause Championship defences some real headaches.

"The challenge for Marvin is that he has to produce that form we saw from him late in the season.

"Marvin is someone who is very keen to play a bigger part next season than he did last year.

"He enjoyed being here and being part of the squad last season, but naturally would like to have played more. I understand that.

"If Marvin plays as well this season as he did at the back end of last season then he'll certainly have an impact because I was delighted with the way he took his chance.

"He had to be patient but we brought him here as a player to develop, not as a finished product, and he certainly developed in the way we hoped he would.

"We've seen that he can play up front or out wide, he's got pace, he's strong, has good skill and is excellent at receiving the ball.

"He scored a few goals for the reserves last season and a couple for the first team, so we're hoping he can score a lot of goals for us next season."