Middlesbrough ‘following progress’ of U19 goalkeeper in France – Club helped develop Mandanda and Ousmane Dembélé

It’s not every day we cover a story about an 18-year-old goalkeeper currently playing in the U19s of France’s third-tier, but Wednesday is one of those.

The player in question is André Costa Da Silva, currently playing for Evreux Football Club, and three teams are reportedly following his progress, according to ActuFoot: Marseille in Ligue 1, Middlesbrough in the Championship and Las Palmas in La Liga2.

Of course, Boro’s interest in the player will have nothing to do with their first-team, as the youngster has yet to make his professional debut, but it does go to show how active Jonathan Woodgate’s side are in their scouting around Europe.

After all, it’s not like he’s playing for Lyon’s reserves or U19s.

Evreux’s first-team are in the fifth-tier of France’s football hierarchy, but their youth academy have produced a couple of good players, like Marseille’s Steve Mandanda and Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembélé.

That’s probably why Middlesbrough are keeping an eye on what’s going on in that area of the club, and with Da Silva clearly attracting interest, including that of Angola’s FA, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t try and sign him if they like what they see.