YESTERDAY’S ‘difference’ in Middlesbrough’s defeat to Coventry City, Viktor Gyokeres, was the subject of an enquiry from Boro over the summer, it has been revealed.

After last season’s goalscoring failures, Boro were on the hunt for a prolific striker with speculation suggesting they were interested in bringing the Swede to Teesside.

Gyokeres, who scored 19 goals last season, scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win for the Sky Blues at the CBS Arena that condemned Boro to defeat as he delivered a man of the match performance. After lauding his performance, manager Chris Wilder admitted that the club were an interested party over the summer.

“We made an enquiry. That was between club to club” said Wilder. “In the summer, we sold a couple of players (Tavernier and Spence) and we had that opportunity. We were ambitious in terms of going and getting a centre forward.

“Coventry knew about it from Chief Executive to Chief Executive and club to club so there was nothing behind closed doors. There was an interest.”

After a failed move for Gyokeres, Boro completed deals for Rodrigo Muniz, Marcus Forss and Matthew Hoppe. The Brazilian Muniz has two goals in Boro colours while Forss scored in the 3-2 defeat to Queens Park Rangers earlier in the season.

Gyokeres was also the subject of interest from a number of clubs with Premier League side Fulham rumoured to be interested but the Sky Blues held onto their key asset over the summer.

The Boro manager could not clarify where a potential move to Teesside fell down as he continued: “I didn’t get involved in the numbers. There are always three things that have got to happen to cement a transfer. Buying club, selling club and the player along with his representatives. I thought he was excellent today and I thought he was the difference.”

Following the closure of the transfer window, Wilder has relayed his frustrations about their business with the club failing to secure all of the targets he wanted to bring to the club, Gyokeres being one of them.

Boro return to action on Wednesday evening looking to relieve the pressure on a difficult season to date. Yesterday’s loss to Coventry ensured they stay in the bottom three of the Championship going into their home tie against Birmingham City.