Finland international forward Marcus Forss has joined Middlesbrough for an undisclosed fee.

The 23-year-old joined the Sky Bet Championship side after completing a medical today, Thursday 28 July.

He trained at Jersey Road for the final time on Monday before departing after five years in West London. The Brentford B graduate links up with Middlesbrough ahead of the start of the Championship season this weekend.

Phil Giles, Brentford FC Director of Football, said: “On behalf of everyone at Brentford, I want to wish Marcus all the best for the future. Middlesbrough are an ambitious club, and this is a great opportunity for Marcus. I think we can all look back on his five years with us with pride.

“As one of our first Brentford B players he came in to a new group and made an immediate impact. He showed the pathway for young players here and it was fantastic to see him play and score in the Championship, as well as for his country. He got some very important goals for us and took part in some memorable games. I am sure our fans will remember him fondly.”

After moving from West Bromwich Albion in June 2017, Forss was one of the first players signed to our new B Team programme. He ended the season as the squad’s top scorer and won the Mary Halder B Team Player of the Year award for the 2017/18 campaign.

Promoted to the First Team squad, he made his senior debut in the Carabao Cup, scoring against Southend United on 14 August 2018. The following weekend, he would make his Championship debut against Blackburn Rovers away from home. His first league goal came on the final day of the season, during a 3-0 win over Preston North End.

At the start of the next season, he joined AFC Wimbledon on loan for the whole campaign. Netting 11 goals in 18 League One matches, his season was cut short by a hamstring injury that saw him return to West London.

The departures of Ollie Watkins and Saïd Benrahma in the summer of 2020 pushed him further up the pecking order and allowed him to make 39 appearances in the Championship as we were promoted to the top flight for the first time in 74 years. He scored the winning goal in the Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final against AFC Bournemouth last May, as we came from 2-0 down on aggregate to win 3-2 before beating Swansea City and clinching promotion a week later.

Marcus also became a full Finland international during his time in West London, scoring a goal on his debut against France. He would go on to be named in Finland’s squad for the UEFA European Championships 2020, staged in the summer of 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He played twice as they were eliminated from the group stages.

Last term, Forss started brightly in the Carabao Cup, scoring in both the second and third rounds. His four-goal tally against Oldham Athletic earned him a place in the Team of the Tournament. In need of more game time, he joined Hull City on loan for the second half of the season. He made 11 appearances, scoring one goal, against Queens Park Rangers in February.

He departs the Gtech Community Stadium after 74 games for the Bees, notching 19 goals in all competitions. During his time here, he also earned 14 international caps and scored twice for his country. Marcus also jointly holds the record for the most EFL Cup goals scored while with Brentford, having found the net nine times in that competition.