MIDDLESBROUGH youngster Enes Mahmutovic has joined Dutch side MVV Maastricht on a season-long loan.

Mahmutovic, a full Luxembourg international, will spend the new campaign playing in the Dutch second tier, having spent part of last season on loan at League Two side Yeovil Town.

The 22-year-old defender joined Middlesbrough from CS Fola Esch in 2017, and made his first-team debut in last August’s Carabao Cup win over Notts County.

He has made two senior appearances for Boro, and became the first Luxembourger to score a professional goal in English football when he netted against Notts County.

He is regarded as a bright prospect, but new Boro head coach Jonathan Woodgate clearly feels his development will be best served by a full season with Maastricht rather than another campaign as part of the Teessiders’ Under-23s set-up.

Meanwhile, former Middlesbrough midfielder John Obi Mikel has joined Turkish side Trabzonspor on a two-year deal.

Mikel spent the second half of last season at the Riverside on a short-term deal, but was released after Boro failed to win promotion back to the Premier League.

Middlesbrough’s players are currently at a training camp in Austria, and will play their opening pre-season game when they take on AK Grazer in Bad Aussee on Friday afternoon.

Britt Assombalonga is not part of the squad though, as he is currently representing DR Congo at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

The Boro striker scored his first international goal on Sunday as he came off the bench to help DR Congo claim a 4-0 win over Zimbabwe.

The result means DR Congo, who had previously lost to Uganda and Egypt, finished third in their group, and will have to wait to see whether they qualify for the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed sides.

“There are regrets, but at the end of the day we can’t live on the regrets and just have to focus on what we’ve done now and hope we can go through and carry on this momentum,” said Assombalonga.

“We have done what we could’ve done, and we just have to hope and wait. It’s going to be a long couple of days, but we just have to rest up and be ready if we do go through.”