Middlesbrough summer signing ruled out of Blackburn Rovers visit
The latest team news ahead of Middlesbrough’s visit to Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
Kim Hellberg has received mixed news on the injury front as Middlesbrough look prepare to face Blackburn Rovers in their first away day of the Championship season.
Boro kicked off their league season with a hard-earned home win against newly promoted Lincoln City last weekend as goals from Leo Castledine and Will Lankshear helped Hellberg’s men recover from falling behind to an Adam Reach strike with just 12 minutes on the clock. The Boro boss was able to hand league debuts to a number of his summer signings at the Riverside Stadium and there was some hope he could allow recent addition Ash Phillips to make his bow in Saturday’s trip to Ewood Park.
However, the Swede has confirmed the former Tottenham Hotspur defender will not be available for selection as his new side face Tony Mowbray’s men - but expressed his optimism the centre back could be in contention for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie at League One side Doncaster Rovers.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the Boro head coach said of Phillips: “No, he’s not in for Saturday. He’s one of the only few who’s not in for selection on Saturday. We’ll see if it’s possible to have him with us on Tuesday or if it’s the next Saturday or whatever it is, but we need to be careful with when we involve him and how we build him up. That will be a key part. He has been training with us, mainly outside of the group sessions, but trying to do some things with us. We’re trying to build him up and that will take a bit of time and we need to have a bit of patience with him. He’ll be a very good player for us.”
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‘Much better’
However, the Boro boss was more positive on the availability of midfielder Aidan Morris and striker David Strelec as the duo near a return to contention. He said: "Aidan is much better and will absolutely participate in the game. David has just started training. We'll see if he can be on the bench or not, but Aidan is much better."