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Ashley Phillips move highlights 'whole package' that makes Middlesbrough attractive to signings Ashley Phillips joined Middlesbrough from Tottenham with Kim Hellberg excited to welcome him Kim Hellberg believes Ashley Phillips' Middlesbrough transfer is another example of how attractive the club is for talented young footballers to come and play for. Phillips became the seventh new arrival of an impressive summer transfer window on Saturday, with the issue that caused the deal with Tottenham to be paused resolved. The centre-back was therefore unveiled on the pitch at the Riverside ahead of Boro’s opening-day victory over Lincoln City, before he watched on from the directors’ box. Phillips is another example of Boro targeting young footballs with what they believe are top futures ahead of them. They’ve not been alone in those feelings. They’ve had to beat stern competition to land a number of targets, including Phillips. On how Boro have been able to do that, Hellberg said: “I think that's something that has almost been forgotten. All these young players are now choosing to come here. “And of course, it's also because we can spend. You always need to to spend, and, like I said, Steve, Kieran, and Neil, I'm so impressed by how they've handled all this. “They have been absolutely brilliant in the way of handling this and working with this. They keep trying to get the best whatever possible, and they really want success for this football club in a brilliant way. “You look at numbers from last season too, and you can understand why they want to come here in terms of playing. “You look at our crowd, you look at the sellout today, you look at an amazing atmosphere, you look at our away games where we take so many supporters, you get everything here in terms of that. “That's why I think there's a lot of interest to come here, and it allows us the possibility to compete with clubs that maybe for the moment are playing a little bit higher up, or are in a higher position, or can pay more - whatever it is. It's the whole package in terms of that.” Lankshear has been tracked by Boro for sometime and, after spending the last two years on loan at Stoke City, there’s real belief that is the perfect time for him to really progress his career now - hence the belief in agreeing a deal with Spurs with £7m up front, potentially rising to £20m. “I’m so happy to have him here,” Hellberg said. “He’s another young player that I talked to - a brilliant lad, who wants to learn, wants to train, wants to develop, and is perfectly suited for our squad, and the way we want to do things at Rockliffe. “And then, the quality he has, the pace, the heading ability, but also, so much room for improvement. I think he was a very good center-back in this league last season, but I think he can take even more steps.” While Phillips didn’t arrive in time to play against Lincoln City on the opening day, he will be available to debut next weekend against Blackburn Rovers. However, Hellberg will likely take a closer look at him in training over the next week, with the Boro boss pointing out patience may be needed, with the 21-year-old not involved in Spurs’ pre-season. Hellberg concluded: “I'm just looking forward to start working with him. He's another one that hasn't trained that much, and we will take a little bit of time and patience with that.” ------------- Get Teesside Live Premium now for just £1 HERE – exclusive Boro news and features, transfer notebooks, comment and analysis from Eric Paylor, plus an ad-lite experience Join our WhatsApp community to get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. Your information will be hidden, you'll only ever receive messages from the Teesside Live sports team, and you can leave any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'Exit group'. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.