A new face arriving just before the 2025-6 campaign kicked off, Filip Marschall brought fresh competition for the number one spot. The stopper came to us from Premier League side Aston Villa; the amount spent – as is often the case now – not made known. But it sure was a bit of a statement all the same. In the 2024-5 League One season, we’d had Murphy Cooper on loan. Here, with Marschall, we’d gone out and made it all permanent. What that meant for the future of Taye Ashby-Hammond was to become a hot topic of debate.

Ish.

Filip Marschall: Before Boro’

Marschall started his career at hometown club, Cambridge City. His talent at an early age, however, saw Villa in for him in 2018. Fun fact: up until he was 13-years-old, Marschall was stepping out as a defender. Anyway, he’d get regular action in the youth teams at Villa Park. And he did get to make his debut for them during the 2023-4 Europa Conference League programme. But the bulk of his first team opportunities would come out on loan. He had two spells at Gateshead, followed by stints at MK Dons and latterly Crewe Alexandra.