Dean Whitehead: Boro boss Aitor Karanka 'is outstanding - he's destined for the very top'

Experienced schemer Dean Whitehead has tipped Boro boss Aitor Karanka “for the very top” after witnessing the club’s 14-month transformation.

Karanka took over the Boro reins back in November 2013 and the Teessiders have been on an upward curve ever since.

Despite losing three of his first five matches on English soil, Karanka then saw his side lose only one of their next 10 and have continued to improve this campaign.

Now flying high in the Championship and pushing hard for a Premier League return, the in-form Teessiders grabbed international headlines last weekend as Karanka masterminded a 2-0 win over Premier League champions Manchester City.

And Whitehead, who has twice tasted Championship promotion before, has no doubts that Karanka is destined for greatness.

“Our boss is outstanding,” the 33-year-old midfielder said.

“He’s destined for the very top and you can see that. He’s got us winning games, brought in a winning mentality here and long may that continue.

“I’m enjoying my football and enjoying winning games. I want to play as much as I can.

“We’ve got a great set of lads, a great squad, and I’ve felt this feeling before. You can see the quality we’ve got in the squad.”

Whitehead has been deployed by Karanka as a makeshift right-back in recent weeks, including in the FA Cup fourth round win at the Etihad Stadium.

The former Sunderland and Stoke grafter has excelled in that role, helping Boro to cope without the services of full-backs Ryan Fredericks, Emilio Nsue, Damia Abella and Rhys Williams.

Dean Whitehead celebrates with team-mates after Patrick Bamford's goal against Manchester City

After putting in another heroic display against Man City, Whitehead could be given the nod at Brentford in today’s lunchtime showdown.

“We’ve got some good players out injured so sometimes you have to go out and do a job in a different position,” Whitehead said. “But it’s something you just get on with.

“We believed before we went out (against Man City) that we could get the result. We may have rode our luck a bit in the first half, but we’re always a threat at the other end.

“But arguably the Brentford game is an even bigger game for us. We have to go there on the back of (the Man City) result and make sure we back it up.

“I think the lads will enjoy that pressure. When you beat Man City, of course people will start talking about you.

“But we’ve gone under the radar so far, and we’re confident of another good result.”

That extra attention after last week’s heroics is something that Karanka has also alluded to, with Boro’s FA Cup fifth round draw with Arsenal the talk of the town.

But the Spaniard insists his squad are fully focused on completing a league double over the Bees.

“Playing Brentford after the result at Manchester City could have been dangerous and I thought it would be, but in the way we have trained this week I’m confident”, Karanka told the club’s website.

“I expected there to be a lot of emotion after the game in Manchester, but on Tuesday the players were here, training at 100% and thinking about Brentford.”