The unpredictability of football sometimes knows no bounds; Boro’ having to borrow goalkeeper Thimothée Lo-Tutala in April 2023. It is total exaggeration for us to claim him to be our millionth stopper of the 2022-3 season. But we weren’t half running through (or should that be out of) goalkeepers as we entered the final stages of the campaign. Coming in from Hull City, Lo-Tutala replaced another loanee in the shape of Jon McCracken; the Scot forced to return to Norwich City after sustaining an injury.

McCracken himself was only here because of an injury to another goalkeeper, who was only here because of an injury to another goalkeeper. Pause for breath.

Thimothée Lo-Tutala: Before Boro’

Lo-Tutala had only signed for Hull City in summer 2022; the Tigers agreeing a deal that would take him up north from Tottenham Hotspur. While at Spurs, the French U20 keeper kept five clean sheets in nine Premier League 2 outings. He also captained Spurs’ U18 side. But don’t let that fool you into thinking the north London team were his first. Indeed, the stopper had turned out for Brentford’s academy before that. And before that? Well, it would seem as if he was on the books at West Ham United.