AITOR KARANKA has not given up on having the number one left-back in the Football League fit for at least one of Middlesbrough's remaining two games in the race for automatic promotion.

George Friend, who was named in both the Football League and Championship’s team of the season, is unlikely to be available for Friday’s trip to Birmingham City as he continues his recovery from hamstring trouble.

The 28-year-old was forced off shortly after half-time in the draw with promotion rivals Burnley eight days ago and that kept him out of the visit of Ipswich Town to the Riverside, where Middlesbrough still kept a clean sheet in his absence.

Ritchie de Laet, on loan from Premier League leaders Leicester City, has proven to be a more than capable deputy when he has slotted into that role this season, given he can play in either full-back position.

But Karanka would like to have Friend, who has played whenever he has been fit under the Spaniard’s watch, available at such a crucial stage of the season in a bid to avoid the lottery of the play-offs for the second year in a row.

The head coach admitted last week that Friend’s problem was more concerning than the calf complaint picked up by Gaston Ramirez in the same game at Turf Moor; and then the Uruguayan playmaker started against Ipswich.

Karanka has always maintained he will only pick players who are 100 per cent fit because he feels he has the options in his squad to cope with absentees.

Boro sit second in the table but are involved in an intriguing three-way tussle for the top two places with both Burnley and Brighton, who are on the same number of points.

Burnley are the favourites to go up given Boro and the Seagulls still have to face each other on the final day.

The Teessiders have been warned by their counterparts on the south coast that the players are all determined to deliver promotion for the man who has kept the dream of Premier League football alive this season – Chris Hughton.

Hughton led Newcastle to the Championship title in 2010 and has also guided Norwich City to promotion since then; now he is aiming to make it a hat-trick with Brighton.

Israeli Beram Kayal, signed by Hughton 16 months ago from Celtic, said: “I have a lot of respect for him and when I knew he was part of this club I had a few other interesting clubs but I decided to come here. He was one of the reasons.

“When I left Celtic a lot of people said to me ‘you are going to a good club but also to play for a good man and a good manager’. To be a good man is more important than a good player or manager.

“He is honest with us, gives us the daddy stuff, the big hug, and when you have a lot of respect and love for your manager you try to do it on the pitch for him.

“This is the feeling about him in the dressing room and in England. I hope we can do it (promotion) of course for all of us but for him as well, because he deserves it. He has given me the freedom to show everything I have and to have one of the best seasons of my career.

“I’m no child now, I’m 27 and have been playing for many years, but he has helped me a lot to show my best.”

Boro, meanwhile, have been credited in Belgium with an interest in Gent’s Laurent Depoitre.

Sunderland, Aston Villa and West Brom have also shown an interest in the striker, but he has caught Boro’s eye. The 27-year-old has scored 15 goals and has been compared in Belgium to Jamie Vardy because of his rise from lower league football to international stage with his country.