DARRAGH LENIHAN insists Middlesbrough can only benefit from having four top-class centre-half options next season.

Lenihan returned from a ten-month injury absence as he scored Middlesbrough’s winner in Wednesday’s friendly victory at Gateshead, and will hope to be involved again this afternoon when Michael Carrick’s side continue their pre-season preparations with a trip to Doncaster Rovers.

The Irishman was pretty much a guaranteed starter prior to suffering a serious ankle injury that eventually required surgery, but he finds himself having returned to a squad that has intense competition at centre-half.

Rav van den Berg and Matt Clarke played alongside each other at the heart of the back four for most of the second half of last season, with Dael Fry another experienced option as Carrick ponders his starting line-up for the Championship season opener against Swansea City in a fortnight’s time.

“It can 100 per cent bring the best out of all of us,” said Lenihan, who is heading into his third season as a Boro player following his switch from Blackburn Rovers. “If we want to get to where we want to get to, you have to have that competition and you have to be ready.

“(Matt) Clarkey had his problems a couple of years ago, me last year, you have to be ready in football. And you need strength in depth, not just at centre-half but all over the pitch.”

Nevertheless, Lenihan will be desperate to play as much football as possible next season after making just eight Championship appearances last season.

The 30-year-old suffered an ankle injury which also affected his Achilles in late September, and while he initially tried to nurse himself through, he was eventually forced to admit defeat and undergo surgery a couple of months later.

“It was tough,” he admitted. “I eventually had to accept I had to get the operation. I was trying to be stubborn and play through it, but I wasn't doing anyone any justice, whether it was the team or myself. I had to just bite the bullet.

“Come November, I got the operation. It's been a positive in terms of developing my mental side. I'm sure I'll be able to take that into the coming season.”

Lenihan can take inspiration from Clarke’s journey as a Boro player, with his fellow centre-half also having been sidelined for the best part of a year through injury.

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Clarke’s prospects looked bleak when he missed the first three-and-a-half months of last season, but having been handed an opportunity when injuries to both Lenihan and Fry left Carrick short of options at centre-half, he performed superbly and was an ever-present in the final two months of the campaign.

“Credit to Matt,” said Lenihan. “It was a difficult injury. In the situation he was in, there wasn't many injuries of that type. It was more the unknown with him.

“That's the thing with a long-term injury, it's the unknown, can you come back and be the same person you were before? Credit to all the medical staff here, they've got me into the position I'm in today. That's because of them.”

Just getting onto the field at Gateshead’s International Stadium was a success story for the former Irish international, so to cap his return with a winning goal, albeit in a friendly, was a notable feat.

“It was a special moment,” he said. “It's been a long time coming. Fair enough, you can train and do all the rehab sessions you want, but nothing compares to being out there on the pitch and playing in front of a crowd.”

Attention now turns to the start of the league campaign, with three more friendlies before the real action begins. Boro face Doncaster today, travel to Harrogate on Wednesday night and host Dutch club Heerenveen next Saturday to complete their warm-up programme.

They have re-signed Luke Ayling and recruited both Aidan Morris and Delano Borgzorg since the end of last season, and while further additions are anticipated before the end of next month, Lenihan feels the squad is in an extremely strong place.

“We were chatting during (the training camp in) Portugal, and saying we had a much better squad this year in Portugal than last year,” said Lenihan. “No disrespect to anyone, there but there was just more numbers. The season before, we'd lost loan players and the likes of Chuba (Akpom).  We had a much more settled squad this pre-season and we can only benefit from it.”