Michael Carrick has admitted that due to a unique goalkeeping situation in January, the club could be pressed into recalling one or more of their keepers who are currently out on loan.
The upcoming African Cup of Nations will undoubtedly see Seny Dieng miss a batch of Boro games between January and February. How many will of course depend on how well he and his Senegalese teammates perform in the tournament.
The last tournament saw Senegal win the competition, and if they can once again get to the final, the keeper-who has been something of a revelation this season-will miss as many as 6 Championship games.
Both keepers could be missing
As well as Dieng potentially missing important games, Tom Glover could also miss fixtures, as he could be part of an Australia squad that will compete in The Gold Cup during the same time frame. That poses a conundrum for Michael Carrick. It means that Boro’s number one and number two goalkeeper will be out of action at a time when the league will start to take shape in terms of who can contest what.
If Boro are in and around the play-off places, they will surely want a keeper who has had game time this campaign, so Jamie Jones playing would represent a huge risk having not played competitively this season.
On the subject, Carrick-whilst conducting his pre-match press conference via the club’s website-conceded, “It’s something we have been aware of, it’s not something new for us. That’s ongoing really, but yeah, we’re fully aware of it.”
Loan players have performed well
Boro do of course have three goalkeepers out on loan, all of whom have had good reports during their stints with their respective clubs. Zach Hemming has had some outstanding performances with St Mirren, notching three clean sheets out of twelve games in the Scottish Premiership.
Sol Brynn is on loan at Leyton Orient, and with the O’s sitting in 14th in League One, the big stopper has managed to keep four clean sheets this season.
The third keeper on loan is Liam Roberts, on loan at Barnsley, who did have a taste of first team action for Boro at the start of last season before Zack Steffen took the number one spot. Despite being the player to feature most recently for the first team, Roberts is out of contract at the end of the season, and it remains to be seen whether Boro see him as a long term player. Roberts is enjoying an impressive season with Barnsley, and has kept six clean sheets so far.
Carrick cautious about recalls
On the proposition of calling any or all of those players back, Carrick was keen to point out, that it is a complex situation. “It’s one of the options, and there’s all sorts that goes into that.
“Each individual and what they need as well, of course what’s best for us and the team and what we need but of course there’s a big element of each situation and not just pulling everyone back just because we need them back here.
“They’ve got their development as well to think about so it’s not just a straight forward, ‘let’s get every goalkeeper back that we’ve got.’
He added, “We’ll try to make it best for everyone.”
The keeper situation is something that has been raised a number of times recently, but it is clear that Carrick and his team have a plan, with January coming around fast and the fixtures in a hefty Championship schedule piling up, it surely won’t be long until we learn of that plan.