MIDDLESBROUGH's excellent use of the loan market last season almost helped them win promotion to the Premier League, but Michael Carrick admits the transfer approach on Teesside has now changed to ensure there's no future repeat of the situation Boro have found themselves in this summer.

Cameron Archer, Aaron Ramsey, Ryan Giles and Zack Steffen all flourished at the Riverside last season but the chances of keeping any of the loanees at the club all but disappeared when Boro narrowly missed out on promotion, leaving the Championship club with quite the summer rebuild on their hands.

Carrick and the recruitment team have remained calm all summer about the work that needed doing in the transfer market, with the club having planned for the possibility of not being able to re-sign last season's loanees.

But the head coach admits Boro want to avoid a repeat of this summer's situation moving forward, which is why they've prioritised permanent signings this summer. That will remain the case in the final week of the window, and while making a loan signing isn't out of the question if the opportunity to sign a Premier League player presents itself, the preference on Teesside is developing their own players this season and "looking at the bigger picture".

Carrick said: "Of course, you do not really want to make anyone better for someone else to get the benefit and we do not intend to do that.

“But with the loans especially, that can be a bit of an issue. I feel we have moved away from that to enhance our chances throughout this season and maybe going into next year, looking further ahead at the bigger picture. That is why I am a little bit calmer with our start so far.

"That is not knocking the loan players or the loan system. It has its value. But if you have a lot of loan players who become part of your team, then (if they go back), you almost have to change your team and that brings its own challenges, which is fine if you can deal with it. But looking ahead a bit more at the bigger picture , trying to make the foundation really strong, there are risks.”

Had Boro won promotion last season, the situation would have looked very different. Giles has signed for Luton this summer, Ramsey for Burnley and Archer is on the verge of moving to Sheffield United. Boro would have almost certainly tried to sign those players had they been planning for life in the Premier League, but Carrick admits he was immediately aware that the play-off defeat to Coventry made a Riverside return for the loanees extremely unlikely.

“I was not exactly resigned to losing all of them but I did understand at the end of last season what the reality was.

 “I was well aware how important the loan players had been to us and how well they had all played. And that has been proved now that they have all gone up a level this season. They are now at the next stage of their career, playing in a higher league."

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Despite last season's loanees moving elsewhere, Carrick says there is a positive to emerge from their spells on Teesside - evidence to current and future targets of how young players can progress and flourish at the club.

The head coach said: “In one sense that is a real positive. We have shown we are capable of helping players, pushing them on and getting the best out of them. Now it is about doing exactly the same with the group we have now."

Boro head for West Brom on Saturday looking for their first win of the season after the draw with Huddersfield and a performance that the head coach was encouraged by.

He said: "It's the start of the season; it's not desperation times by any stretch. t has not changed our thinking.

"I know what the boys are capable of. I know what I have seen in training and I know what I have seen in the games. I'm pretty calm about things."