AITOR KARANKA insists that emulating Jose Mourinho’s managerial achievements is not even in his thinking as he looks to make Middlesbrough a more formidable Premier League force in 2017.

The Boro boss ends the year by heading to Manchester United to take on his good friend and former boss at Old Trafford for the first time since deciding to go it alone three years ago.

Mourinho’s glittering career has seen him win everything there is to win in club football as a manager while Karanka, who spent three seasons alongside him at Real Madrid, is enjoying his first full campaign as a top-flight boss.

The Middlesbrough chief learned plenty from the master during their time together at the Bernabeu and his success on Teesside – where he has guided them to the top tier of the English game – has made bigger clubs sit up and take notice.

If he continues to lift Middlesbrough up the rankings and stun the likes of Manchester United – like he did last season in the League Cup – then Karanka’s stock will only continue to rise and he could be targeted by Champions League chasing teams, like Real.

But he insists such dreams are not even being thought about. He said: “My ambition is to beat Jose on Saturday. My focus is to prepare for these games coming up, not what I might do in the future, in the Champions League.

“I hope one day I can do something like that but I am doing the steps at the moment we have players who are not the same as they were a few years ago.

“We are adding better quality players and sometimes it can be difficult to manage them, if they think they are better players than they are. You just want to get stronger every year.”

Middlesbrough head to Old Trafford four points clear of the relegation zone after 18 matches and the man leading them believes they will only improve the more games they will play at the top level.

Karanka said: “I can tell you I would have been satisfied at the start of the season with this position and, more than the position, with the way we are playing, we are showing consistency even if we would have liked more points. It is about keeping that experience.

“We are in a really good position for a recently promoted team, we knew we would be fighting around the relegation positions and if we had a few points more we would be even better placed – and we could have had those. We have more experience now and we are doing well. We are in stronger position for that experience.”

While Karanka will be pleased to meet up with Mourinho there will also be an Old Trafford return for Middlesbrough goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

The Spaniard only made one Premier League start during his 18 months on the books with the Red Devils and – with the exception of a costly blunder at Burnley on Boxing Day – has recently got back to the sort of form that made him a household name with Barcelona.

Karanka said: “We are speaking about one of the best keepers in the world in David de Gea keeping Victor out when he was at Man United. I knew David when he was 16 or 17 years old and he's the calmest person in the whole world, he's an amazing keeper, he's an amazing kid and when you have David de Gea in front of you it is difficult to get a chance.

“I don't think it was a wrong move for Victor to go there, to a club like Man United because to be at a club like United it's good for that player because, for sure you are going to take a lot of good things. Victor's career is amazing so he doesn't need to show anything.”

If Valdes’ place in the Middlesbrough side is assured, Karanka does have a decision to make at full-back. The suspension of Antonio Barragan has opened the door, so George Friend could find himself thrust back in despite the impressive form of Fabio da Silva.

Karanka said: “Speaking about Fabio, we had other players to come here and they said they didn't come because they felt it would be difficult to play because George Friend was playing. Now, for example, Fabio is playing and George is on the bench so again it's not about one player it's about the team and everybody has to be ready.

“Fabio can play right-back instead of Antonio, Emilio Nsue can play, Calum Chambers can play, so it's not a concern because I have a few players who can play.”