THIS time last year, Middlesbrough were heading into pre-season still needing to assemble their first-team squad.

A host of key players had left at the end of the previous campaign, Chuba Akpom was poised to head through the door to join Ajax and a number of the players that would eventually form Michael Carrick’s first-team squad were still to be signed. It wasn’t so much a work in progress as a job that hadn’t even begun.

Fast forward 12 months, and while there will still be further transfer activity before the window closes at the end of August, the bulk of Boro’s work is already done. Barely anyone has left since the end of last season, and as well as turning Luke Ayling’s loan move into a permanent transfer, the Teessiders have also signed Aidan Morris and Delano Burgzorg.

So, while there is no guarantee Boro will be able to hit the ground running when the Championship season begins in just under three weeks’ time, they are undoubtedly much better placed to get off to a flier than they were last term.

“I wasn’t here last summer, but I’ve spoken to a couple of the boys about it,” said Ayling, who played the opening 60 minutes of Saturday’s 3-0 friendly win over Bolton Wanderers at Bishop Auckland. “Obviously, they ended the previous summer with disappointment, but had been on a great run, and then there was like ten or so new players that came in.

“That’s always hard when you’re needing to get that amount of people bedded in for the start of the season. This summer, because I was here last year, we’re only needing to bed two new players in at the moment.

“The boys are feeling great, the squad looks in great condition and everyone is flying fit. There are a few young lads stepping up and doing great as well. So, the squad feels like it’s in a great place.”

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Ayling was part of Boro’s starting side at the weekend, but by the time the final whistle blew, Carrick had changed all 11 of his players.

The strength of the squad at the Boro boss’ disposal is considerable, even without the likes of Sol Brynn, Tom Glover, Darragh Lenihan, Tommy Smith, Alex Bangura and Marcus Forss, all of whom were absent at the weekend.

“The board and the gaffer have done a great job building that, bringing together a good group of players that should be capable of getting through a full Championship season,” said Ayling. “It’s no secret that it’s a long, hard season at this level, so we’re going to need at least 22 players who play a good chunk of football.”

Having claimed a comfortable victory in their opening domestic friendly at the weekend, Boro are straight back to action on Wednesday when they make the short trip up the A19 to face National League side Gateshead.

“It’s good for us to have this schedule,” said Ayling. “We’ve had four hard weeks of training and this was our second game (after a behind-closed-doors defeat to Vitoria Guimaraes in Portugal).

“It has been really tough so far. Now, the games are coming so we can start to get back into the rhythm of how the Championship schedule is. It’s nice to get into that flow. We’ll come away (from Bishop) and rest, and I already can’t wait to get back out there on Wednesday.”