Michael Carrick was asked about the striker situation and just in general on transfers Wisdoms

Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough transfer update as he insists he isn’t worried about his squad

Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough transfer update as he insists he isn’t worried about his squad

Michael Carrick was asked about the striker situation and just in general on transfers Wisdoms

 

Michael Carrick insists he’s happy with his current Middlesbrough squad and looking forward to the start of the new season, even if Boro are still looking to add to their squad this summer.

The start of the new Championship season comes next weekend, although the summer transfer window is still open until the start of September. That leaves Boro with time still yet to add the reinforcements they want to their squad, though they are looking unlikely to come before Saturday’s clash with Auxerre at least, and maybe not even before the Millwall game.

Boro are most certainly in need of a left-back and striker to replace influential loan stars of last term Ryan Giles and Cameron Archer. It remains to be seen if there are any other areas Carrick and the Boro hierarchy have identified, but the Boro boss said after Wednesday’s draw with Bradford City that no incoming signings were close at this point.

 

Boro would have loved to have re-signed the aforementioned loan duo this summer. But Giles appears to close to signing for Luton Town after their promotion to the Premier League. Archer, meanwhile, has returned to Aston Villa, where Unai Emery said this week he couldn’t currently consider another loan exit because he is needed in their squad right now.

Asked about Giles, Carrick said: “Gilo had a good season with us last season, but he was on loan and that’s the thing about loan players, they’ve got to go back. We’re obviously looking to do things in the window, so we’ll see what comes from it.”

 

And asked if he was worried about the striker situation heading into the season – with Chuba Akpom out injured currently and Morgan Rogers leading the line without scoring yet over the summer friendlies, Carrick continued: “I’m not worried (about the striker situation). We’re well aware of what work we need to do and how we need to improve the squad from our point of view.

I’m not worried about it. We’ve got a good squad and some real talent within the group. As I’ve said, we’re looking to add to it and we’re looking to balance the group off. That’s just normal. Of course, we want everything done yesterday, that’s just how it is. But we’re patient enough to get the right things when they appear.”

He continued: “I’m looking forward to the season. This is always an exciting time of year. We’ve trained, we’ve had games and we’ve had different types of experiences. The boys have trained well, they look fit. You can judge pre-season how you like, but it’s about when the games come round and we’re looking forward to that now.

 

“As a squad, we look strong. Of course, we want to try to improve it in different ways – that’s just normal, everyone in every league in the world is trying to do that at the moment and we’re no different.”