Kim Hellberg, Middlesbrough’s new head coach, referenced Marcelo Bielsa and Roberto De Zerbi in his first press conference in his new role and said his aim is to get the club into the Premier League — “That’s clear.”
Hellberg did caveat that with “if it’s this year or next year”, but with Boro third in the Championship after 17 games, a place in the play-offs is a realistic ambition for a side who finished 10th last season under Michael Carrick. Rob Edwards replaced Carrick until leaving for Wolverhampton Wanderers three weeks ago.
Hellberg, 37, has moved from Hammarby to replace Edwards. He led the Swedish club to consecutive second-place finishes in the Allsvenskan before taking up the reins at the Riverside Stadium.
“It is of course an opportunity, when you’re in this position we are, to aim for it and to work as hard as possible to get into a spot that takes you to the Premier League,” Hellberg said. “It’s clear when I arrive here, it is to take Middlesbrough to the Premier League. That’s nothing to hide from, so that’s what I’m aiming for.”
Hellberg’s reputation in Sweden is for high-energy attacking and pressing and, citing Bielsa and former Brighton head coach De Zerbi, he said he wants Boro “to play aggressive, high-defending football”.
Middlesbrough have made an encouraging start to the Championship campaign (Trevor Wilkinson/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Introduced to the Riverside crowd before Tuesday night’s 4-2 defeat by Coventry, Hellberg’s first game is at home to Derby County on Saturday. “I saw a lot of coaches that’ve been in England,” he said. “Bielsa is one I take a lot of inspiration from, De Zerbi is another. Of course, it’s (Pep) Guardiola and (Jurgen) Klopp also, they are for everyone.”
The Swede hopes fans “see some things already on Saturday. And if they don’t, I will work even harder.
“I love keeping the ball, but it has to be a purpose of taking the ball forward to strike. We talk a lot about ‘staccato’ — from Italian music — sometimes playing slow, but then you get that feeling of, ‘OK, now it goes very quick.’ I love that.
“Football changes, there’s no structure that gives you success, you need to adapt, all those things. I think you need to be good today as a coach to get that mentality as quickly as possible, to get them to play like you want.”
Hellberg held talks with Swansea about their vacancy, but said once he met Middlesbrough’s head of football, Kieran Scott, then owner-chairman Steve Gibson, he chose Boro.
“When I talked to Kieran, I felt the energy fit perfectly with my energy,” added Hellberg, who will be accompanied by his long-term assistant David Selini and will retain Edwards’ first-team coach, Adi Viveash, on his staff. “I had very good discussions. That was the key thing, there’s a lot of good people and a good opportunity to do very good stuff here.”
In a division in which only six points separate second from fifteenth, Hellberg added: “I think there can be sixteen teams in the top six and all will say, ‘Oh, it’s not impossible’. But I think we’re in a good position, we’re a good squad and we’ve a lot of good players. I think that we can do very good things.”
