Exclusive: Middlesbrough in advanced talks to sign Tottenham’s Ashley Phillips

Middlesbrough are in advanced talks to sign Tottenham rising star Ashley Phillips, sources have told Football Insider.

The 21-year-old centre-back has spent the last two seasons on loan at Stoke City, where he has impressed.

Now, Boro are close to sealing a deal to bring Phillips to the Riverside Stadium ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

If all goes through, the current England Under-21 international will become Middlesbrough’s seventh signing of the summer.

Spurs and Boro have already done business this transfer window, with Will Lankshear making the move to Teesside for around £10million.

Kim Hellberg’s side are aiming to win promotion to the Premier League this season after losing in the 2026 Playoff Final to Hull City.

Who is Ashley Phillips?

Phillips started his career at Blackburn Rovers and made his professional debut at the club in 2022.

The defender would make a total of 14 first-team appearances for Rovers throughout the 2022-23 campaign as the club narrowly missed out on the Championship playoffs.

His form and potential then earned him a move to Tottenham for £2m in 2023, and he was then sent out on loan to Plymouth Argyle for the second half of the 2023-24 campaign.

After helping the Pilgrims stay in the second-tier, he was then loaned out to Stoke City, a club where he would spend the next two years of his career.

Here, he made 83 appearances combined across both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 campaigns, where he became a fan favourite at the Staffordshire club.

Throughout this time, Phillips has also been a regular in England’s youth squad, and currently has five caps with the Under-21s team after making his debut in 2025.

How good is Phillips?

According to Fotmob on 4 August, Phillips had a mixed set of stats in the Championship last season.

Overall, he averaged 4.17 duels won with a 62.2 per cent win rate, 3.50 aerial duels won with a 67 per cent win rate, 0.51 tackles, 0.86 interceptions, 0.30 clean sheets and an 85.5 per cent passing completion rate per 90 minutes.

However, when these stats are compared to the likes of Alfie Jones’ from last season, Phillips’ are far better.

The Boro centre-back averaged 4.01 duels won with a 53.2 per cent win rate, 2.00 aerial duels won with a 51.2 per cent win rate, 1.67 tackles, 0.91 interceptions, 0.24 clean sheets and a 90.2 per cent passing completion rate per 90 minutes.

Therefore, the England Under-21 international could easily play a big part at Middlesbrough over the course of the upcoming season.