NETO Borges is expected to be in contention to make his Middlesbrough debut at Cardiff City on Saturday.

The Brazilian full-back completed his move from Clermont earlier this week and has been in training with his new teammates at Rockliffe.

Michael Carrick said on Thursday that "things still needed to be ticked off" for Borges to feature in the Welsh capital, but the head coach expects to have the left-back in his squad.

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What's not clear at this stage is where the 27-year-old will go straight into the starting XI.

Lukas Engel has been Boro's starting left-back in the first three league games but has had an unconvincing start to the season and endured a nightmare second half against Stoke City in the Carabao Cup defeat on Tuesday. George McCormick broke into the first team fold over the summer but picked up an injury in the first minute of his full debut against Stoke.

Borges was a long-term target and Carrick is delighted with the way he's quickly settled in the Boro dressing room.

He said: “He’s an impressive young man. He speaks a number of languages and is a really good character, great personality.

"He’s settled in really quickly and trained with the boys yesterday. We’re delighted to have him.

"We’ve got Lukas at left-back and young George has done really well after we lost Alex in pre-season for a long period of time, so it was a position we needed to balance off and we’re delighted to have him. He’s really good for that position."

Asked whether Borges is available to play on Saturday, Carrick said: “We’re still going through the process and there are things that still need to be ticked off, but at the moment, we’re treating him as though he will be available."