AITOR KARANKA has confirmed Jordan Rhodes’ availability for Saturday’s home game with Blackburn Rovers, and insists he is not afraid to pitch Middlesbrough’s £9m deadline-day signing straight into action against his former team.

Rhodes left Ewood Park to join Boro on Monday, with a quirk of the fixture list meaning he could make his Boro debut against the side who were employing him as recently as last weekend.

Karanka could opt to keep Rhodes on the substitutes’ bench and name David Nugent in his starting line-up, but the Boro head coach claims the identity of Saturday’s opponents will not influence his thinking when it comes to confirming his starting line-up.

All five of Boro’s January signings are in contention for a starting spot, with Ritchie De Laet and Gaston Ramirez the most likely to be involved from the outset.

Karanka said: “Jordan is available to play on Saturday, just like all of the new signings. All of them have trained really well.

“It will be a hard decision, but it is good choice I have to make about the first XI at the weekend. I already know who is going to play.

“If Jordan plays for 90 minutes, or if he plays for 20 or 60, then it could be a motivation for him that he is playing against his old team. But I don’t think it is a big, big thing that we are playing against Blackburn.”

Rhodes’ move, which could eventually cost £13m if a series of clauses are met, looked to have collapsed when talks broke down over a failure to agree personal terms on Sunday afternoon.

However, the Middlesbrough hierarchy were determined to make a final push on deadline day, and Karanka is delighted to have finally secured a player who was his number one target when he originally submitted a formal transfer request last summer.

He said: “He will help us. He is coming into an amazing squad, and the main thing is that he wanted to come. As a player, everybody knows him and knows his goalscoring numbers.

“As a person, he is an amazing lad and he is coming here to help. Sometimes when you sign a goalscorer, he arrives thinking that he is the star or the biggest player in the world.

“He knows that he is coming into a proper team, and this team is already working to get promotion. He knows he is going to help us a lot.”

Rhodes has scored 20 goals or more in every season since 2009, and Karanka cannot understand why the Scotland international has never been offered the chance of a move to the Premier League.

He said: “It’s a good question. I can’t understand how a player with his goalscoring numbers has never played in the Premier League.

“Hopefully, we will be able to see him in the Premier League with us soon. It won’t be this season, but hopefully it will be the next one. I think he has everything to play in the Premier League.”

De Laet also moved on deadline day, signing a season-long loan from Leicester City, and the versatile defender is set to line up at left-back on Saturday, with George Friend facing up to another month on the sidelines after damaging his shoulder in the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Karanka said: “After the game we thought it was just going to be a few days, but now I think it is going to be two, three or even four weeks.”