Following the completion of Ryan Giles’ loan spell at the Riverside Stadium last season, there were hopes that the 23-year-old would return to the club on a permanent basis.

However, Luton Town’s interest derailed them, with Giles joining the Hatters and earning Premier League football for himself.

As a result, Carrick and his recruitment staff had to go elsewhere, with peripheral player Hayden Coulson starting the season as his starting left-back after a loan stint with Aberdeen last season.

They did, however, recently obtain the services of Silkeborg left-back Lukas Engel, with the Dane being put straight into starts against Huddersfield Town and West Brom.

However, it is evident that Engel requires competition at that position, with Coulson possibly not meeting the needed quality for a side that will be vying for promotion once more.

And Boro appear to be re-entering the race for Sierra Leone international Alex Bangura, whom they had sought previously in the transfer season.

In July, the Teessiders were said to have opened talks with Dutch second-tier club SC Cambuur for the versatile left-sided player, with a £500,000 price tag supposed to be on his head.

But they appear to have returned to the party, with TEAMtalk reporting that Boro are on the approach of landing Bangura, with advanced talks to obtain his signature underway.

Who exactly is Alex Bangura?
Bangura joined Cambuur in 2018 after playing for Feyenoord at the junior level. He made his first-team debut less than a year later.

Bangura played a lot of football in the Dutch second division, but he achieved promotion to the Eredivisie with Cambuur for the 2021-22 season and has played 56 times at that level, scoring four goals and providing three assists.

Bangura, who can play as a left-back in a back four or as a wing-back, has started all three of Cambuur’s Eerste Divisie games this season but is expected to go, with Boro the most likely destination.

Would Alex Bangura be a good signing for Middlesbrough?

Taking Coulson out of the equation, new Boro acquisition Engel has no competition at left-back, but acquiring Bangura would mean that two capable players would be competing for one slot.

That might be a good thing for Michael Carrick since it will keep both players fighting and trying to show their best, and replacing Ryan Giles’ 11 assists from last season is critical because he was their main creative outlet out wide.

There is of course zero guarantee that Bangura would fit in well in the Championship, but he has some international experience with five caps to his name and the Eredivisie is a decent enough standard overall, and if the speculated £500,000 figure from earlier in the summer is true then it could be a bargain buy for Boro.