MICHAEL Carrick hailed "fantastic" Sol Brynn for his hugely impressive Middlesbrough debut at Leeds United - with the Teessider's selection raising fresh doubts over the future of Tom Glover.

Carrick insists Glover remains "part of the group" at Boro and has been at pains to stress there's "not a hierarchy" when it comes to the battle for the gloves this season.

Despite those claims, Seny Dieng is Boro's established number one and, although Glover was on the bench for the Championship opener against Swansea last week, Brynn was preferred for the Carabao Cup victory at Elland Road, with the 23-year-old impressing on his debut.

It's understood Boro don't want to lose Glover in the final fortnight of the window, with Carrick repeatedly praising all of his senior keepers in recent weeks, and the head coach continues to be impressed by the 26-year-old in training.

But Glover will no doubt want to play football to ensure he remains in the Australia international fold. It's not clear at this stage how much football Glover will play on Teesside this season and how Carrick plans to juggle his three senior keeper options.

Glover was linked with a move away from Boro at the end of last season, with Celtic and Copenhagen among the clubs said to have been interested at the time.

“There are no steps Tom needs to make to play," insisted Carrick.

"It’s exactly the same as the outfield players. We know what he can do and he continues to train fantastically well. He’s a part of the group just like everyone else.”

Dieng will be back in goal for Saturday's trip to Derby and it will be interesting to see whether it's Glover or Brynn who gets the nod as the deputy at Pride Park, with the latter having impressed Carrick enormously at Leeds.

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Brynn returned to Boro this summer on the back of a fine loan spell at Leyton Orient, which followed an equally impressive stint with Swindon Town the previous campaign.

“I thought he handled it fantastically well," said Carrick of Brynn's display at Leeds.

"It’s part of a journey for him, really, coming through the academy since he was young. Going on loan and having experiences elsewhere before coming back. It was a big moment for him in a big game as well.

"He just dealt with it like it was any other game. He had a big impact early on making that important save and was a calming presence. So I was really pleased for Sol. The first one is out of the way now and he’s up and running now.

"Like everyone, just because players are maybe not playing here and are out on loan instead, they’re our players and you’re going out on loan for a reason. Usually it’s to go away and develop to come back and have an impact.

"Sol has gone through that and now it’s that next chapter with how he develops from here."

Carrick was also full of praise for Anfernee Dijksteel this week after the defender ended a five-year wait to score his first Boro goal at Elland Road.

He said: "He's not stopped smiling yet, Anf, which is fantastic. It was a hell of a goal. He caused problems for them all night with Izzy. He took his goal ever so well, I was really delighted, it was a nice moment."

Dijksteel has hardly featured for Boro since Carrick's arrival as head coach and is behind Luke Ayling in the pecking order but continues to get his head down and train hard at Rockliffe.

Carrick said: "Credit to Anf. He's there every day, training every day.

"He's desperate to play more and feels he could and should have played more. I was genuinely delighted for him at Leeds.

"He was fantastic and that happens because he's training well and staying at the level for when an opportunity comes along. He deserved all the credit he gets for his performance."