DAEL FRY has been training with Middlesbrough, but Michael Carrick will continue to tread carefully with the defender, who is a doubt for the opening weeks of the season.

Fry was not involved in the matchday squad for last night’s goalless draw against Harrogate Town, and has not been involved in Boro’s domestic pre-season programme in the last few week.

The centre-half missed most of the second half of last season with a pelvic issue, and continues to suffer from a series of niggles.

As a result, while he has been training at Rockliffe Park, Carrick does not want to push him too hard, too soon in order to guard against causing any further damage.

“He (Fry) just picked up a bit of a niggle,” said the Boro bos. “He's around, he's training with us, so he's fit. But he's been out a long time, since January really, and he missed a lot of last season.

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"So, it's similar to Darragh (Lenihan) really. We're managing them. We're managing their minutes as well as their training load. Dael just missed a couple of days of training. It's nothing major at all.”

Nevertheless, with Lenihan, Rav van den Berg and Matt Clarke having been heavily involved in pre-season, it is hard to imagine Fry starting when Boro line up for their opening game of the Championship season against Swansea City.

Lenihan, on the other hand, is pushing hard for a starting spot after following up his goalscoring return from a ten-month absence against Gateshead last week with a 72-minute run-out in last night’s draw at Harrogate.

“He (Lenihan) missed a lot of last season,” said Carrick. “He had a really good spell for us then he picked up the injury. He tried to battle through a little bit, but in the end, it became too much.

“Staying fit is important, as is playing games. So, there's a lot more to come for sure.”