Aitor Karanka will only sanction Mustapha Carayol’s first team return when he’s convinced the winger is 100% ready to play.
Carayol suffered cruciate knee ligament damage in Boro’s Championship fixture at Bournemouth in March and hasn’t played since.
Karanka expects him to play at some point this month but won’t take any chances, particularly with Rhys Williams suffering another long-term Achilles injury at Barnsley just a minute into his first start after 11 months out.
The Australian underwent surgery last week and faces a long road to recovery.
There’s no suggestion that Williams returned to the first team squad more quickly that he should have.
The injury he suffered at Oakwell was not directly related to the tear he suffered in January last year.
But Karanka will play safe as far as Carayol’s comeback is concerned.
“I prefer to be calm because look what happened to Rhys,” he said.
“Long term injuries I prefer to always be calm and patient.”
Carayol has been training with the first team squad since Christmas and may make his first competitive appearance since the Bournemouth match on Tuesday, when Boro Under-21s take on Scunthorpe at Glanford Park in the Final Third Development League Cup.
Meanwhile, Scunthorpe manager Mark Robins admits he wants to re-sign Luke Williams on loan.
The 21-year-old made six appearances for The Iron before Christmas and is unlikely to break into the Boro first team anytime soon.
“I want to try to bring Luke Williams back in, but I’ll see what I can do,” Robins told the Scunthorpe Telegraph.“We will try to do the deal at some point but whether it is possible yet I don’t know.”
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