Forss and McCree likely to miss visit to St

MIDDLESBROUGH are likely to be without both Marcus Forss and Riley McGree for Friday’s trip to Southampton, while Michael Carrick isn’t expected to welcome any returning players to his starting line-up for the game either.

Forss limped off in Boro’s last game against Blackburn Rovers a fortnight ago with a hamstring strain and was therefore forced to miss Finland’s crucial Euro 2024 qualifier with Wales. McGree, meanwhile, suffered an injury while on duty with Australia and returned earlier than expected to be assessed.

Both look set to miss Friday’s game at St Mary’s as Boro continue to assess the pair with the help of specialists. And they’re unlikely to welcome any other players to their starting line-up at least, with hopes that Hayden Hackney, Dael Fry, Josh Coburn and Alex Bangura would use the break to make the step up to being ready not quite successful.

Updating on Boro’s injury picture as the international break comes to an end, Carrick said: “Obviously he [Forss] came off. He missed going away. It’s another one at the moment we’re assessing and waiting. He’s been scanned and seeing different people so we’ll see how bad it looks. We’re just giving him as much time as possible.

“Riley’s not been back in the country long, so we’re still assessing that, scanning it and seeing where he is and seeing if we can get him back involved. It’s not exactly the same issue [plantar fasciitis] as before.

“As for the boys returning to training, kind of yeah, but not to the point where anyone is really particularly ready to come back just yet. Hopefully it won’t be too long.”

The fresh injury blows for Boro could leave their squad a little stretched for