Michael Carrick will hope Middlesbrough can repeat Aston Villa transfer trick | OneFootball

Cameron Archer and Aaron Ramsey both enjoyed highly impressive loan spells with Boro from Aston Villa.

Middlesbrough and Aston Villa have formed a mutually beneficial transfer relationship in recent years, with Samuel Iling-Junior the latest youngster to swap Villa Park for the Riverside Stadium.

Boro swooped in to complete a last-minute loan deal for the 21-year-old, after his time with Serie A side Bologna was cut short by the Villains.

Iling-Junior's arrival on Teesside marks the latest young player that the Premier League outfit have entrusted Middlesbrough to develop and improve in their care, having banked major credit with them for their handling of two of their most recent starlets.

Aston Villa banked major profits off the back of Cameron Archer's Middlesbrough loan spell

Looking to sharpen their cutting edge in attack even further during the January transfer window of 2023, Middlesbrough completed a short-term loan deal for Villa striker Cameron Archer.

An England youth international at the time, the young centre-forward had enjoyed a fruitful loan spell in the Championship with Preston North End the season before, and was on the fringes of the first-team at Villa Park.

However, he was deemed to be not quite ready for a bigger role with the Midlands club, and so he arrived in the North East hoping to play a big part in Middlesbrough's promotion push.

That's precisely what he did, scoring 11 goals and providing six assists in just 22 Championship appearances during the second half of the 2022/23 campaign, as Boro booked their spot in the play-offs with a fourth-placed finish.

Despite losing to Coventry City in the semi-finals, Archer had boosted his stock significantly for his time at the Riverside, and returned to Aston Villa in the summer as a highly sellable asset.

Villa would sell Archer to newly promoted Sheffield United at the end of the season, for a fee understood to have been worth £18m. A price-tag that was largely driven by his spell with Boro.

Aston Villa also cashed in on Aaron Ramsey following Middlesbrough loan spell

Joining in the same winter window as Archer, Middlesbrough completed a Villa Park double-dip with the loan addition of versatile wide player Aaron Ramsey.

Also an England youth international at the time, he'd been recalled from his time with Championship rivals Norwich City at the halfway point of the season, having scored three times and provided three assists in 20 appearances for the Canaries.

Villa took the decision to bring him back to Villa Park in order for him to complete his rehabilitation for an injury suffered in December, before sending him to Middlesbrough for the second half of the season once he was deemed fit.

Largely operating on the left-wing, Ramsey would quickly make an impression in the Boro side, with his first two goals coming in a 5-0 routing of Reading on matchday 35 of the 2022/23 season.

An early goal against his former club Norwich on matchday 42 had taken his goal tally to five, as well as one assist. However, just 26 minutes into that game, he would be forced to withdraw through injury.

It was a nasty one to his ankle, and it would curtail his involvement for the rest of Middlesbrough's season. However, he was clearly developing and improving as a player during his time on Teesside, and so like Archer, he was sold by Villa for big money in the summer.

Burnley would splash out a reported fee that was in excess of £12m for the wideman, which saw Aston Villa bring in major profits on their two academy graduates after spending just a brief amount of time with Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough and Aston Villa will both be hoping for successful loan spell for Samuel Iling-Junior

So, those two deals will no doubt have landed Boro major credit in the bank with Villa, which they have used to bring Iling-Junior to the Riverside this winter.

The England youth international has solely been plying his trade in Italy so far in his senior career, having been picked up by Juventus after leaving Chelsea's academy in 2020. From there, he would quickly start turning heads in The Old Lady's youth system, before being handed his senior debut in May 2022.

Having made 45 appearances for Juventus come summer 2024, Aston Villa would sign him for a reported fee of £11.8m plus £2.5m in add-ons, and would loan him straight back out to Serie A side Bologna.

After making 16 appearances and scoring two goals there, Villa would recall him this winter, believing he needed to play more minutes elsewhere.

Villa's hierarchy have trusted Middlesbrough to deliver that for the final few months of this season, and if he can have a similar impact to that of Archer and Ramsey, the young winger could make all the difference to Boro's promotion hopes.