NEW Middlesbrough signing Marcus Forss will be in the matchday squad for tomorrow's season opening game against West Brom as Chris Wilder backs him to grow with the club.

The 23-year-old put pen-to-paper on a four-year deal with Boro from Premier League side Brentford with the club understood to have paid a small fee for the Finnish forward.

Despite his move being wrapped up on Thursday morning, Forss will be available for tomorrow's game at the Riverside Stadium.

“He will be involved" said Wilder. "He’s been doing his work at his old club but for him to come in on a Thursday morning and to chuck him straight in is a difficult one but he will be involved in the 18."

As Boro look to plow on with work behind the scenes to add to the strikeforce, Forss looks to become a mainstay in the Boro side and believes he is the right fit for the team after completing his move earlier this week. 

The 23-year-old has had previous experience at Championship level with the Bees scoring 19 goals in 74 appearances. While Boro are looking to plugs gaps in areas they need to strengthen as soon as possible, the manager was quick to labour the point of how Forss is a signing for the future. "Marcus is a boy we’ve known for a long time" Wilder continued. 

"A lot of the talk has been about loans or whether we would purchase and develop our own. The numbers we have been quoted have been quite staggering at times.

"We can develop him, he’s got an attitude to improve and learn, and he fits the criteria we want from a centre forward. 

"I believe he can finish. He wants to get into the positions we want him to get into, he wants to press and he wants to run - all things we look at. He’s a young kid. Is he going to come in and score 20-25 goals straight off? I’d be absolutely delighted if he does but let’s not put too much pressure on him. He’s here for the long-term and he’s one of our own.

"Hopefully he builds into one of those strikers so when somebody comes asking for one of ours, I can quote them a ridiculous price like I have been quoted for people I don’t believe are worth it."

Boro's lack of goalscoring threat last season was clear to see with Aaron Connolly, Folarin Balogun and Andraz Sporar not hitting the heights the manager has hoped for as the club went on to finish outside the Championship play-offs.

Forss will not be the only forward Boro add to their squad during this transfer window with a bit of luck and whilst he will be expected to fill the attacking void in the coming weeks, Wilder hopes to avoid a mount in pressure on the young striker.

The Boro boss added: "To stick it on a 22 or 23 year old lad straightaway is going to be quite difficult. I am sure the intelligent football public of this area will not put too much pressure on him but will want him to do well just as much as I want him to do well. But I just think we are still in need of competition and reinforcements at the top of the pitch.

"He is gong to be part of a group that needs to score 40-odd goals and I don't care where that comes from, whether he gets 39 of them or he gets five. Ideally from his confidence point of view, I hope when he gets an opportunity, he scores.

"He is going to be part of a four or five man attack that we will need in the Championship. When I talk of squad depth, we will need to improve on last year's performances."