MY ACCOUNT
Middlesbrough wide man Isaiah Jones has gained plenty of admirers this season — and now he can add Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel to the list.
The German tactician confessed that Jones, 22, had been at the forefront of his pre-match planning after the Blues’ 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final win at the Riverside.
With virtually all of the Premier League’s top sides said to be tracking Jones, we take a closer look at what all the fuss is about.
Doing it the hard way
Boro picked up Jones in the summer of 2019 after some eye-catching performances for amateur outfit Tooting and Mitcham in the eighth tier.
Impressive efforts for the club’s Under-23s side prompted Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone to take him on loan in January 2020 — but that move did not go to plan.
The Londoner was restricted to just one five-minute cameo from the bench for the Saints before the season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A return to Scotland one year later with Championship side Queen of the South was where Jones really started to catch the eye.
Quickly racking up one goal and six assists in his first seven outings at Palmerston Park, Jones returned to Teesside last summer ready to make an impact at first-team level.
Edging out Spence
What makes Jones’ emergence on Middlesbrough’s right flank this term particularly impressive is the man he has usurped.
Highly-rated youngster Djed Spence played 38 times there under former Boro boss Neil Warnock in 2020-21 and would have expected to feature prominently again this time around.
But Warnock surprisingly opted to ship Spence out on loan to Championship rivals Nottingham Forest, opening the door for Jones to become his first choice.
While Spence has flourished at Forest — even attracting interest from European powerhouses Bayern Munich — current manager Chris Wilder opted to leave him at the City Ground rather than exercise a January recall clause.
Explaining that decision to local journalists, Wilder said: “I think the biggest factor is the young man that’s playing in that position at the moment [Jones].
“I don’t want to stunt his progression because he’s been outstanding. It was a difficult and complex one, but we’ve made the decision to leave Djed out.”
Strings to his bow
Anyone who has watched Jones play this season will know exactly why so many top clubs are monitoring his availability.
Blessed with outstanding close control and an ability to square defenders up before effortlessly breezing past them, he has rapidly became his side’s most dangerous attacking outlet.
The Boro talent ranks inside the Championship’s top 10 for assists this term but is also one of the division’s most fouled players, perfectly showcasing how difficult he is to contain.
And by impressing against Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea in the Cup this term, he has shown himself capable of causing the game’s elite a few headaches.
That fact was not lost on Blues boss Tuchel, who namechecked the wide man in his post-match comments on Saturday.
“We prepared like any other match in the best way possible and adapted a little bit in the structure,” Tuchel said. “They push their right wing-back, Jones, very high. He plays almost like a winger.
“So, we adapted with [Malang] Sarr to have the physical strength and speed to match this attacking force of Middlesbrough.”
Yet Jones’ ability going in the opposite direction should also not be overlooked either. His relentless work rate and love for a tackle is what allows him to carry out the modern wing-back role so proficiently.
Bigger things ahead
With Boro firmly in the race for a Championship play-off spot, Jones could feasibly be playing top-flight football with his current employers next season.
Wilder’s men sit seventh in the second tier, two points behind Blackburn in sixth with two games in hand.
Boro have nine games to tackle after the international break, starting with a trip to second-bottom Peterborough before home encounters with Fulham and Hull.
But Jones may end up in the Premier League next term, regardless of his current club’s fortunes.
United, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham and Leeds are among a raft of clubs to have been linked with the trickster in the last month alone.
A summer scramble for his signature seems inevitable if Wilder’s side are not promoted, though the Teessiders would at least enter it from a position of strength.
Last November, Jones put pen to paper on a new deal which runs until 2025.
If he continues on his current trajectory, that contract will inevitably end up being little more than a price-enhancing tool.
Middlesbrough fans already know how special Jones is. Soon, the rest of the football world will find out.
