TOMAS KALAS wants to return to Middlesbrough next season – and the Chelsea full-back is confident he will be rejoining a side that is playing in the Premier League.

Friday night’s 1-0 win over Norwich City marked the end of Kalas’ loan deal from Stamford Bridge, although the 21-year-old is determined to remain on Teesside and continue training with the rest of the Boro squad until the end of the season.

The terms of his temporary switch mean Boro officials are unable to extend his loan to include the remaining Championship matches against Fulham and Brighton, or any play-off games should the Teessiders fail to force their way into the top two.

Kalas has been a major part of the club’s promotion push, making 16 starts and a substitute appearance after moving to the North-East in January, and while he will meet with Chelsea officials later this summer to discuss his future, he is already eyeing a return to the Riverside.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here, and I really want to come back,” said the Czech Republic international. “If I have that option (next season), I will take it.

“I’m glad I’ve been able to come to Middlesbrough, and I want to say thank you to the coach, the staff and everyone involved in the club for making me feel at home. Hopefully, we will meet again next season.

“I’m still a Chelsea player, but at Chelsea it’s always difficult to get into the team. If you don’t see a big chance to play, then it’s better for a young player to get a game somewhere else.

“I spent the first half of the season in Cologne and that was difficult, but I think I made a good decision to come to Middlesbrough and I think I am on the right way back now. Hopefully, that can continue. If I am to go on loan again next season, hopefully it will be here.”

Kalas’ final appearance in Middlesbrough colours was one of his most important, with the defender making a huge contribution to the clean sheet at Carrow Road that briefly took Aitor Karanka’s side to the top of the table.

Sadly, their stay in top spot was short-lived, with Watford’s 1-0 win over Birmingham and Bournemouth’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday enabling both sides to leapfrog the Teessiders on Saturday afternoon.

With a markedly inferior goal difference to Bournemouth, Boro’s automatic promotion hopes are not in their own hands as they prepare to finish the season with games against Fulham and Brighton.

However, while both Watford and Bournemouth’s run-ins look reasonably inviting on paper, Kalas still believes that a six-point haul will result in Boro forcing their way back into the top two.

“It’s hard to say what will happen now,” he said. “The next two games will decide everything, although it is still not in our hands. We still need someone to drop points, but hopefully they will.

“I still think that if we win both games, that will be enough to get promotion. It is still too early to say that we are on the way to the Premier League, but we are definitely heading the right way and we are still in a good position.”

A repeat of Friday’s resolute performance at Norwich should enable Boro to see off Fulham and Brighton, with Karanka’s side successfully repelling a series of Canaries attacks as they racked up their 20th Championship clean sheet of the season.

“Friday’s game was the hardest game I’ve played since I’ve been at Middlesbrough,” said Kalas. “It wasn’t about the running so much, it was all about working hard and keeping the right shape.

“We had to make a lot of tackles, win a lot of headers and block a lot of shots. It was a physical game, and that made it the toughest of my time here.”

In theory, Kalas could return to Stamford Bridge and take up a place in Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea squad for the remainder of the campaign, but in reality, he is exceptionally unlikely to be involved with the Premier League’s champions elect.

He will talk to Chelsea officials within the next couple of days, and having made such a valuable contribution to the second half of the season, is keen to remain with his Middlesbrough team-mates even though he will not be involved on a match day.

“It’s frustrating to be leaving now, but I knew this was the way it was going to be from the start,” he said. “I knew it was going to be this way, and the time really flies and my last game is already here.

“I want to stay with the guys though. I hope Chelsea will agree to let me stay here and train with the guys because I want to stay a part of things until the end of the season.

“I want to be part of this squad – not just because of next season, because who knows what will happen in the next one or two months, but because I feel a real part of this team. I just want to finish it off properly.”