Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick admitted that up to four Boro first team players could miss the start of the season through injury. The Head Coach spoke to the press following the club’s 3-3 draw in their penultimate friendly against Bradford at Valley Parade.
In a report by The Gazette Live, Carrick revealed that both first choice right-backs-Tommy Smith and Anfernee Dijsteel- will not be fit for the curtain raiser at The Riverside on August 5th against Millwall. Dijksteel has been out since suffering an injury from a challenge during the Portugal pre-season tour, whilst Smith was stretchered off during a game against Real Betis, last week.
It means that as well as potentially losing out on their left-back transfer target, Ryan Giles, they now also face a dilemma at right-back. Rav van den Berg came on for Smith during the Real Betis game and has played there before. The other alternative is versatile defender Paddy McNair – who has ironically been the subject of speculation regarding his future on Teesside following the arrival of the young Dutchman- who played in the right-back position last night against Bradford. The Boro boss refused to be drawn on whether the injuries will prompt a foray into the transfer market, but did intimate that the squad could cope with injuries that are likely to be for weeks rather than months.
On Tommy Smith’s injury he said, “Tommy will be out for a few weeks, exactly how long, we’re not quite sure yet, but it will be a few weeks. That’s obviously a disappointment, but it’s part of football, unfortunately. Of course, we didn’t want to lose Tommy, but we’ll have to deal with that.”
It is likely that the club will just continue with their planned recruitment in terms of positions they want to fill, adding, “For the sake of a few weeks, you can’t just fill an extra position because when he’s fit, the balance of the whole group changes. It depends on how long he’s going to be out, so we’ll have to make that judgement when we find out.
“Anfernee will be out for a few weeks as well. That’s why you’ve got a squad. You’ve got to deal with setbacks and you’ve got to deal with spells through a season when people are fit and not fit. I want everyone to choose from, but you’ve got to deal with it so we can’t make a big deal out of it.”
The loss of Tommy Smith and Anfernee Dijksteel comes as the club also look to plan for the beginning of the season without their captain, Jonny Howson and their talisman, Chuba Akpom. Both have suffered niggles and are not expected to be out for too long, but with neither featuring in friendlies and yet to train with the group, they may struggle to be match fit for the first game a week on Saturday, though Carrick said he would make that judgement closer to the time. “We’ll have to see with Chuba and Jonny,” he said. “We’ll have to see exactly when they come back. They’ve not been training with the group yet, so we’ll just have to make a call on that as it comes.”