NEIL WARNOCK is happy to be giving Nathaniel Mendez-Laing a ‘second chance’ at Middlesbrough – and is confident the deadline-day signing will make the most of his opportunity in the North-East.

Mendez-Laing joined Boro as a free agent on Monday, having been released from his previous contract at Cardiff City shortly before the start of the season.

The exact circumstances of the 28-year-old’s departure from the Cardiff City Stadium have never been disclosed, although Cardiff’s manager at the time, Neil Harris, confirmed the winger had been sacked because of a “serious breach of contract”.

Warnock is understood to be aware of the full details of Mendez-Laing’s dismissal, and even though the forward has also previously been transfer-listed by Peterborough United because of a “breach of club discipline”, he is confident his experience of working with him in the past will help ensure there are no such issues at Middlesbrough.

“I think we all make mistakes,” said Warnock. “I’ve known him for a long time – I brought him up from Rochdale – and I’ve spent a lot of time with him, three years or so.

“I haven’t got a problem with all of that, although there were one or two other clubs after him, and I told both him and his man (agent) that he was better off coming with me because of his circumstances. He hasn’t played for a while, so he’s not match fit, and he has to get his career back on line, really.

“I know the boy, I’ve had him three years, and there were ups and downs during that time. Sometimes, you get in a situation like Mendez has got in. To be on a few hundred pounds a week, and then suddenly become a Premier League player on thousands and thousands in the space of 18 months, it’s a big step up.

“I think the PFA have to pay attention to these type of lads, because they need help. Managers can’t look after every player, and I think sometimes players need a bit of help. All of sudden, they’re on riches they couldn’t have dreamed of, and you have to look at the company they keep.”

While Mendez-Laing will need a couple of weeks to get up to full match speed, Boro’s other deadline-day signing, Neeskens Kebano, is set to go straight into the squad for today’s game with high-flying Brentford.

Kebano’s loan deal from Fulham only went through in the final half-hour of the transfer window, and having previously been told the move would not be happening, Warnock was delighted to be able to secure the 28-year-old attacking midfielder for the remainder of the campaign.

“I thought I would only be signing Mendez and Yannick because I was told the Neeskens thing had been put to bed by Fulham,” said the Boro boss. “That was a half past nine decision by myself when I was able to speak to Alistair (Mackintosh, CEO) down there and Tony Khan (owner) in America.

“I asked him to help us out and told him I’d try to repay him. That’s how it came about in the space of one-and-a-half hours, and we got a really good deal out of the situation. When I spoke to Tony, he trusted what I said. We’ve already got (Marcus) Bettinelli here and maybe that helped.”

With Bolasie, Mendez-Laing and Kebano all arriving, Warnock loaned Lewis Wing to Rotherham and cut short Patrick Roberts’ loan deal as well as sending centre-half Nathan Wood to Crewe.

“Lewis has been pestering me for weeks to play games,” he said. “He’s more of a regular first-teamer than Woody, so I didn’t really want him to go, but Paul Warne asked me and I thought, ‘If I’m going to bring players in, I’ve got to try to balance the books’.”