MIDDLESBROUGH have benefited from a clear and strong "chain of understanding" between the club's hierarchy, recruitment and coaching team this summer, says Michael Carrick.

Boro are in an extremely strong position as they move into the final week of the summer transfer window.

Five senior signings have arrived this summer, as well as teenage defender Harley Hunt, with Boro ticking their priority boxes having made Luke Ayling's loan deal permanent and strengthening in midfield and attack with leading targets joining the club.

The only remaining wish for Boro, if possible, is to sign a left-back, which only became a priority after Alex Bangura's injury - even though Ryan Giles' situation has been monitored throughout the summer.

To add to the delight at players recruited, Boro have also - so far - managed to keep hold of their star assets, with the club making clear early in the summer they had no interest whatsoever in cashing in on the likes of Emmanuel Latte Lath, Hayden Hackney or Rav van den Berg.

What has made life easier for Boro this summer is the fact that all the key figures behind the scenes are pulling in the same direction. With the support of chairman Steve Gibson and chief executive Neil Bausor, Boro's head of football Kieran Scott and head of recruitment Chris Jones have been able to build on their impressive transfer work on Teesside and benefit from their ever-improving relationship and understanding with head coach Carrick and his coaching team.

“I’m really pleased with the way that’s gone this summer," admitted Carrick.

"Certainly, over time you build relationships. We learn what each other likes - what we like in players as coaches, what the team looks like and what it needs.

"That’s with Kieran, Neil, Chris Jones and obviously Steve as well. I think we’ve got a really good chain of understanding.

"I like to think that’s shown in terms of the boys we’ve brought in and people can see that we’re in a better place than we were when we finished last season. There’s always room for improvement, I keep stressing that to you every week. We’re always looking to improve. But at this stage, I’m really happy and hopefully everyone is able to see why we’ve brought the players in that we have and they’ve fitted in really well.”

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With Boro having planned and so far executed their transfer window exceptionally well, there'll be no "anxiety" in the final week.

Carrick said: “I’m not going into next week thinking it’s a busier week than usual because we’ve got so much to cram in before the deadline.

"Some things might get thrown at us between now and then, you never know. We’ve got good players, so you can never really know on that side. But we’re in a good place as a squad and certainly not going into next week anxious, chasing anything, or looking that deadline as a warning or a beacon or anything like that.

"For me, we’ve got three games in the next week - three different games - and for me, my eyes are pretty much 85-90% on that. If there is anything along the way we have to deal with, we’ll deal with it.”