One Middlesbrough senior player is at risk of becoming an afterthought in the 2024/25 Championship campaign.
Middlesbrough will be looking to carry their form from the end of last season into 2024/25.
Michael Carrick was able to guide Boro to a run of just one loss in their final 12 league games.
It was not enough for the North East outfit to earn a play-off place, but it does bode well for the 2024/25 Championship season.
Middlesbrough’s preparation for the new season is now well underway, with one pre-season fixture already played out and another set to take place this weekend.
Carrick will have some big calls to make over the summer, with his line up versus Swansea City on August 10th likely to cause some debate among Boro fans.
Middlesbrough suffered an injury crisis across 2023/24 but now the majority of their players are back fit, there is plenty of competition across most areas of the pitch.
Middlesbrough well stocked at centre-back
One area that was particularly weak during the 2023/24 season for Middlesbrough was centre-back.
Injuries at full-back meant that Rav van den Berg was often deployed out of position.
Darragh Lenihan also missed most of the previous campaign due to injury, earning just eight league appearances.
At the back end of the Championship year, meanwhile, Dael Fry picked up an injury that saw him miss the final 16 league games.
Fry and Lenihan have both returned to training ahead of 2024/25 but their absence last season may impact their playing time in the upcoming campaign.
Dael Fry may lose starting place in 2024/25
Lenihan has never been a regular feature during his time at the Riverside and is expected to act as a backup option this year.
However, Fry has previously been a mainstay in Boro’s backline, replacing Ben Gibson following his transfer to Burnley in 2018.
The former academy graduate has made 241 senior appearances for the Reds and played 28 league matches last term prior to his injury.
During Fry’s recovery, however, Van den Berg and Matt Clarke formed a great partnership at the heart of Middlesbrough’s backline.
The duo played a key role in Boro’s aforementioned run of one loss in 12 and Carrick is unlikely to want to alter that partnership going into 2024/25.
This means Fry may be forced, at least at the beginning of the campaign, to act as a third-choice centre-back.
The 26-year-old remains a quality option, but interfering with the Van den Berg-Clarke connection would not be a wise decision on Carrick’s part.