AITOR KARANKA claimed there is plenty more to come from summer signing Cristhian Stuani after a deadly double on his first start for Middlesbrough, but then revealed Mustapha Carayol is set to leave the Riverside.

Moments after witnessing Uruguayan forward Stuani score twice in Boro’s 3-1 win at Oldham Athletic in the Capital One Cup, Karanka emerged to hail the £3.6m man’s performance before confirming that Carayol can go.

Carayol has become frustrated at his lack of first team opportunities since recovering from a serious knee injury last season, which has kept him out for a year.

But the 26-year-old, who arrived from Bristol Rovers three years ago, could be on his way after Karanka agreed to let him leave amid suggestions Blackburn are among the clubs keen on signing him.

“I spoke to him yesterday (Tuesday) and I thought he would play here,” said Karanka, speaking at Boundary Park. “After the meeting with him we thought it may be better to send him on loan.

“We need him to play regularly, both of us have thought that the best thing for us is for him to play games and I can’t guarantee he will play games here.

“He is our player and it is good for him to rediscover his confidence. He needs to play, last season he was twice on loan and he didn’t play in his best way after his serious injury, so he needs time to recover his confidence.”

Carayol has still not made a first team appearance for Middlesbrough since returning from injury earlier this year. He had to go to Brighton on loan in April and he made five appearances for them.

Karanka will look to move him on as soon as he can, so that he can then focus on developing the team he has to work with in the hope it ends in promotion to the Premier League.

The performances of Stuani and Diego Fabbrini at Oldham suggested both players will have huge parts to play this season, while Karanka still hopes to add a number of players to his squad.

Leicester striker David Nugent is thought to be close to agreeing a three-year deal at the Riverside, while AC Milan goalkeeper Michael Agazzi is considering a switch to Teesside. A number of loan signings are also expected.

Karanka, still keen on Jordan Rhodes, said: “I don’t know (if we are any closer) and I don’t want to speak more about strikers. I don’t want to speak about individuals, we have spoken about them in the last month and they have appeared everywhere in the media; if we get one more option in then great.”

The Spaniard is, though, satisfied with the early contribution of Stuani. After Yanic Wildschut had opened the scoring at Oldham, the South American forward headed a second four minutes before half-time and added a third just after the hour.

Karanka, whose side conceded a late consolation from Oldham’s Daniel Philliskirk, said: “I think the main thing for him is the confidence he will get from this.

“A striker needs confidence and now he is confident. That’s the main thing. I can’t expect him to score two goals every single game. He scored like that in Spain, but this is different here and he needs time to settle in.

“It is important for him and the rest of the players to know we have a striker, with Kike, who can score goals. He is a key player for us ... he has plenty more to do because the league will be a lot different to playing a League One team. But hopefully he can score on Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday for us.”

With Kike, Grant Leadbitter and Stewart Downing on the bench at Oldham, Karanka admits he is excited to have different options after the likes of Fabbrini and Stuani impressed.

He said: “Now I have a tough job to choose the best players on Saturday against Bolton. We are still looking at new players. I said on Saturday we need more players, we won here but we still need more players, we are better than we were last season but we have to keep improving.

“I had to use more players here because I didn’t like Sunday at Preston. We have won here so I have to try my best 11 for Saturday, we will get there and keep improving.”