AITOR KARANKA has ruled defender Ben Gibson out of Saturday’s visit of Nottingham Forest but has revealed that Middlesbrough are set for a double boost on the injury front.

Karanka, who did not want to confirm or deny bids had gone in for Fulham striker Ross McCormack or QPR winger Matt Phillips, has indicated defenders Alex Baptiste and Damia Abella are closing in on a return.

Abella has not played since September 2014 after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury, while Baptiste broke his leg during a summer friendly at York shortly after moving to Teesside as a free agent.

But both players have been training with the first team squad at Rockliffe Park and it is hoped they will play for the Under-21s next week to build up match fitness. They will not be considered for the Forest game.

Karanka said: “Alex is an amazing kid because when you look at his face you can feel how much he’s enjoying it.

“He looks like a kid on his first day, he’s really fit which is a surprise as when you’re out of the team it sometimes takes a while.

“He and Damia are both training well and will be good alternatives for me. Alex is a player who knows the league and the country, he’s not a player who needs time to settle in.”

But Karanka is disappointed to learn that Gibson – whose record at the heart of the defence with Daniel Ayala has been exceptional this season – will be missing for the third game in a row on Saturday with a hip problem.

The Middlesbrough boss said: “Ben’s not fit and he’s not training with the team. He did his hip in the warm up against Burnley in the FA Cup. He felt pain and since that day he is not able to play.

“It is worse than I thought. He didn’t even play, I could never have imagined you could have done that in that way during the warm up. I think he will not be ready for this game, but hopefully he will be ready for the next game.”

By the time Middlesbrough return to Championship action after this weekend’s visit of Forest it is hoped that there will have been a couple more transfer additions.

Boro are known to have been in touch with Fulham to discuss the sale of McCormack, while it has also emerged today that they have asked QPR about winger Matt Phillips, with a £6m offer being talked up.

But Karanka, whose side have a free weekend after this because of their FA Cup exit, said: “I don’t want to speak about offers as I have the experience in the summer when we had signed Jordan Rhodes and spent £25m, but nobody came.

“I want to talk about the players who are here as they want to be here, and we have two or three months to keep going.

“If you ask me today if it’s true about McCormack, true about Rhodes, true about Lindelof, true about Cazorla or Ozil, I’d say I want to keep going and on February 2nd we can talk about the players here.”