ALEX BANGURA is facing a significant amount of time on the sidelines after undergoing surgery on his injured Achilles.

Bangura suffered an Achilles injury during Middlesbrough’s pre-season training camp in Portugal, and has been forced to have an operation to repair the damage.

The full-back will definitely miss the first couple of months of the new season, and could even be sidelined until next year as he recovers from his surgery.

“Unfortunately, Alex is going to be out for a period of time,” confirmed Boro head coach Michael Carrick, who watched his side complete their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 win over Heerenveen this afternoon. “He’s had an operation on his Achilles, which is not great news for us.

“Obviously, it’s a setback for us. We’re not sure how long it’ll be yet, but he’s definitely going to be out for a big chunk of the start of the season. That’s disappointing for us, and disappointing for Alex because he was looking really strong. That’s something we’ll have to deal with.

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“It was a different issue (last season), but he’s had a problem with his Achilles, and he had to have an operation on that. We’ll have to see how that goes.”

Bangura’s absence means Boro are left with Lukas Engel and George McCormick as their two options at left-back. Engel played the vast majority of today’s final friendly, and set to start next weekend’s Championship season opener against Swansea City, while 19-year-old McCormick has made giant strides since being promoted to the first-team squad at the start of pre-season.

However, Boro could look to bring in a left-back reinforcement before the transfer window closes at the end of the month, with Hull City’s Ryan Giles remaining a long-standing target. Giles was a second-half substitute as Hull completed their pre-season preparations with a 2-0 defeat at Reading this afternoon.

“We’ll have to see (whether to pursue another left-back),” said Carrick. “It’s something we’re always looking at, we’re always looking at improving. There’s plenty of time left in the window, and it was good to get Lukas a good few minutes today. George has done well, so we’ll make a call on that as time progresses.”

While Bangura is facing a lengthy lay-off, Dael Fry should not be too far away from a first-team return. The centre-half has not featured in any of Boro’s domestic friendlies, but while he did not feature in the squad against Heerenveen, Carrick is expecting him to be back in action before too long.

“Dael’s just had a niggle and hasn’t really played,” said the Boro boss. “He missed a few days of training, so we’re just getting him back to up to speed. He’s training with us, full training sessions, but we’re just getting him back up to speed because he’s missed a lot of football since January, really. We’re just being a bit patient with him.”

Jonny Howson and Rav van den Berg were both unable to complete this afternoon’s game, but Carrick is hoping that neither has suffered a major injury issue.

Howson hobbled off after suffering a foot problem during the first half, while van den Berg went off in the closing stages after reporting an issue with his groin.

“Rav was a little bit of fatigue in his groin, which we managed a little bit, and hopefully it’s not really anything to hold him back,” said Carrick. “Jonny was a bit different. He got his foot trod on, and there was a bit of a twist so although it was a bit of a precaution, we’ll have to see how he settles down. They were two, hopefully small, setbacks from today, but other than that, it was largely positive.”