Isaiah Jones and Anfernee Dijksteel have formed quite the partnership at Middlesbrough but are now set to face off on opposing teams.
With centre-back injury issues persisting in the early part of the campaign, Michael Carrick has been forced to play Luke Ayling at centre-back on several occasions.
This has opened the door for Anfernee Dijksteel to start playing more regular football at Middlesbrough.
The right-back fell out of favour when Carrick first arrived at the Riverside Stadium, playing second fiddle to Tommy Smith in 2022/23 and then to Ayling this past season.
However, Dijksteel shone when Middlesbrough beat Leeds United 3-0 in the first round of the League Cup last month, scoring his first goal for the club despite signing from Charlton Athletic in 2019.
The 27-year-old has since started in the North East outfit’s last two Championship fixtures, including the 2-0 win over Cardiff City.
Post-Leeds, Carrick labelled Dijksteel and Isaiah Jones ‘really dangerous‘ after they caused Daniel Farke’s men all sorts of issues down the right flank.
Anfernee Dijksteel sends hilarious message to Isaiah Jones
Now though, the pair are set to take to the field on opposing sides for the first time ever.
Isaiah Jones recently declared his international allegiance to Guyana, while Dijksteel is an experienced Suriname international.
Now, late on Thursday evening, Guyana and Suriname will go head-to-head in a CONCACAF Nations League clash.
Ahead of the fixture, Middlesbrough have shared a video from Jones on their official Instagram account, in which the winger details a hilarious conversation he had with Dijskteel ahead of their two nations taking to the field.
He said: “We spoke already. He keeps saying ‘you aren’t going to see ball’ and they are going to beat us.
“But I said to him it’s a team game at the end of the day, anything can happen.
“At the end of the day, me and Anf are very competitive with each other when it comes to anything like pool or table tennis so hopefully I get one up on him, come back and just rub it in his face.”
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Which Middlesbrough players are on international duty this week
As well as Jones and Dijksteel, there are eight other Middlesbrough stars away on international duty right now.
Along with the above duo, Seny Dieng (Senegal) and Emmanuel Latte Lath (Ivory Coast) will also take part in the CONCACAF Nations League games.
There are two Boro faces set to represent Scotland as well, both of which – Tommy Conway and Ben Doak – arrived at the club over the summer.
Elsewhere, two players will take part in youth matches over the next week. Hayden Hackney will represent England at U21 level, while Eric Hamelberg will feature for Portugal’s Under-18s.
Portsmouth loanee Sammy Silvera will also play for Australia this week.