Middlesbrough have taken a very deliberate gamble on Rokas Pukstas – a 22-year-old midfielder who has known only Croatian domestic football but built a reputation there as a relentless, late-arriving menace.
Across four seasons in the Hajduk Split first team, Pukstas stacked up 142 appearances, 27 goals and 10 assists. Those numbers are solid rather than spectacular, yet they only tell part of the story. His real value, those who have watched him closely insist, lies in how and where he appears on the pitch.
Master of the Late Run
Croatian football journalist Lovre Nikolac has seen Pukstas’ evolution at close quarters and paints a picture of a midfielder who lives for that final third surge.
“One of his main qualities is arriving late in the box to provide a goal threat,” Nikolac told BBC Radio Tees, underlining the timing that makes Pukstas so awkward to track. Defenders deal with the first wave. He often arrives with the second.
The description is strikingly simple: he just keeps coming. When the ball is delivered from wide, when it breaks loose after an initial challenge, Pukstas is there. “He arrives late and [also] picks up the scraps sometimes,” Nikolac said. It’s not glamorous, but it wins matches.
Dominant in the Air, Relentless on the Ground
The American under-23 international brings something else that should translate well to English football: physical presence.
“As soon as he steps on the pitch, as soon as there’s an aerial duel, he wins it,” Nikolac said. “He can jump high. He’s very strong and his play with headers is amazing. If there’s one thing that he cannot improve on, I think it’s that.”
In a Championship season that often descends into a test of endurance and duels, that matters. Pukstas doesn’t just compete in the air, he thrives on it, attacking crosses and long balls with the conviction of a centre-forward.
Then there’s the engine. If Kim Hellberg wants intensity, he has found a willing servant.
“Obviously we can talk about the goals, but it’s what he does off the ball,” Nikolac explained. “He just runs. There’s no other way to put it. He never stops and he does everything that’s needed from him.”
Box-to-box isn’t a cliché in this case; it’s a job description. “He’s box to box, so up and down the pitch the whole game and never looks tired,” Nikolac added. For a coach demanding high work rate and constant movement, Pukstas looks tailor-made.
The Next Step: Polish on the Ball
For all the praise, there is a clear caveat. Pukstas arrives as a powerful runner and goal threat, not yet as a refined playmaker.
Nikolac is blunt about the area that needs work. “He’s not great at passing, but everything else he’s got spot on. Defending, reading the game, late arrivals, scoring goals,” he said.
That will be the challenge in England: can he sharpen his distribution enough to become more than just a runner and finisher? The raw tools are there – stamina, strength, game intelligence in both boxes. The missing layer is composure and variety on the ball.
“But if he can improve that,” Nikolac added, “then you have a whole player, a true midfielder. You can use him wherever you want. He has the physicality to do anything.”
Middlesbrough are betting that in the chaos of the English game, a tireless, hard-running, aerially dominant midfielder who times his bursts into the box can be a difference-maker. If the passing catches up with the rest of his game, they may have landed far more than just another engine-room runner.
