AITOR KARANKA has backed Steve Agnew to go on to be a successful manager after his time at Middlesbrough.

The former Sunderland midfielder was assistant to Steve Bruce at Hull City before Boro brought him to Rockliffe following the departure of Craig Hignett, and Karanka believes he has what it takes to be a success if he should decide to go it alone as a manager one day.

“He has everything and you can feel when the people who are with you are enjoying their position or when they are doing it because they have to do it,” said Karanka, who made the move himself from assistant to head coach after working under Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid.

“Steve is enjoying it. He is asking me every single thing, he wants to improve, he is driving a lot of sessions because I like the way that he does everything so hopefully he can be a manager and hopefully a really, really good manager.”

Agnew will return to the KC Stadium with Boro for the first time since he quit Humberside almost a year ago, and Karanka believes his first months on Teesside have improved the club.

“The main thing is how he is as a person, how loyal he is, what a good worker he is,” said Karanka.

“He is already ready to help us, to help the players, he is enjoying every single training session, he is enjoying every single game, he is helping me a lot with the things I don't know about the league about the opponents so I am really, really pleased because since he has been here we have improved a lot and the main thing for me is he is an amazing man and a person you can trust, not 100%, but 1000%.”

Boro are in good health in the Championship, with promotion to the Premier League an attainable target with the season a quarter of the way through, and Karanka feels his side have improved their mentality this season.

“I am completely sure,” he said. “For example, if I remember now, last season we had lost the game against Wolves, the games against Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, because we didn’t have the experience.

“Now we are more mature, more experienced and we have better players. For that reason we are winning those games and at the end the points will be important.

“It’s a big game against one of the better teams in the league. For me they are still a Premier League team because they have most of the same players, the same manager - a really good manager, experienced – so it’s going to be a good test for us.

“Last Wednesday everybody said Manchester United was a good test for us to know how good we were and I think our real test is against the teams in the same league as us. I think it’s a good test and we have to know if we’re at the same level as them.”

A win today could lift Middlesbrough to the top of the table, but Karanka will not be satisfied until they are top next May.

He added: “I don’t care to be at the top of the table now. I’d like to be at the top of the table at the end of the season.

“This is our aim. It’s true that the game is really important, after that game we have two weeks to work here and it would be good to get to the international break with three more points.”