MICHAEL CARRICK will spend the next few weeks pondering whether to make Middlesbrough youngster Law McCabe available for a loan move in January.

McCabe is regarded as one of the most exciting prospects within Boro’s academy, but while the 18-year-old broke into the first-team ranks last season, featuring as a substitute on three occasions and making his first senior start in the final-day win over Watford, he has struggled for game time in the current campaign.

The teenager’s only senior involvement this term came when he started in the Carabao Cup defeat to Stoke City, and he did not even make the matchday squad for last weekend’s win over Hull City.

As a central midfielder, McCabe finds himself operating in an area of the pitch where Boro are particularly strong, and even when Aidan Morris and Hayden Hackney were both unavailable last month, he was still unable to secure any Championship game time.

With Hackney back fit, and Morris expected to return before the turn of the year, McCabe’s opportunities are likely to remain extremely limited, meaning a January loan move could be a good way to ensure his career does not stagnate.

Josh Coburn has scored goals while leading the line for Millwall – albeit that he has suffered a metatarsal injury that could keep him on the sidelines for two months - but loan spells do not always turn out as planned, as highlighted by Sammy Silvera’s inability to hold down a place at Portsmouth and Sonny Finch’s failure to establish himself at MK Dons.

When it comes to McCabe, Carrick is weighing up the potential value in the teenager gaining senior game time away from Teesside against the benefits that could be gained from allowing him to continue to train with the rest of Boro’s first-team squad.

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“With Law, we’ll see,” said the Boro boss, whose side are in action on Friday night when they travel to Turf Moor to take on promotion rivals Burnley. “We’ll make a call on that.

“He’s doing really well. With the ball, it comes natural to him - his feel and the way he receives the ball for a pass. For his frame and his size, the physicality is a side that’s to come as he develops, and that’s something we try to help him with - picking what’s the best move for him to have the next step in his career.

“Sometimes, that will be training with and being a part of our group, other times it might be taking the step to go out on loan. They’re ongoing decisions really, and we always try to make the best one that we can.”

If Boro do decide to make McCabe available for a January loan move, they are unlikely to be short of offers for the youngster. A switch to either League One or League Two would appear to be the best option, given that it would give the midfielder the best possible chance of holding down a place in whichever team he joins. Other factors would be considered though, not least the preferred playing styles of the clubs that wanted to take McCabe on loan.

“Especially with younger players, there’s always an element of what’s the right loan, or what’s the best loan,” explained Carrick. “Sometimes, it’s a loan where they take a step into a different environment, and it doesn’t always go your way but gives you the experience to set you on your way through your career as you come back here mentally stronger.

“Sometimes, it’s going and playing a lot of football, and sometimes key to that might be playing a similar style of football, other times it might be playing a different style.

“It always depends totally on each individual player, and is definitely not a blanket of, ‘You get to a certain age and you need to go out on loan as part of your development’. It’s very individualised. We try to be as thoughtful in that as we possibly can.”