MIDDLESBROUGH are set for a slight rejig in the backroom team, with Nathan Kirby joining the club from Standard Liege, where he is currently head of performance analysis.

It's understood Kirby will replace outgoing first team opposition analyst Joe Stephenson, who is leaving Boro for Luton Town.

The highly-rated Kirby will reunite at Boro with Jack Riley, who joined the club earlier this summer as the new head of performance analysis.

Riley, who is heading up the analysis team on Teesside, previously worked closely with Kirby at Barnsley before the pair linked up again in Turkey with Beskitas.

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Riley, who has previously been head of performance analysis at Barnsley and West Brom, left Besiktas to return to the UK with Watford, before joining Boro earlier this summer.

And he'll now by joined by Kirby, who, according to reports in Belgium, wasn't short of UK offers this summer. He's been at Standard Liege since June, 2023.

Stephenson will leave for Luton after spending two years at Boro, having joined from Swansea in the summer of 2022.

There was another exit earlier this summer, with Joppe Meulensteen returning to his previous club Stockport after a short stint as senior first team analyst at Boro.

It's been a summer of change in the Boro backroom team, with the hugely popular strength and conditioning coach John Thrower returning to the club from Tottenham. And Graeme Carrick joined the first team coaching staff after Aaron Danks left to link up with Vincent Kompany at Bayern Munich.