CHRIS WILDER will prepare for Middlesbrough’s season-opener against West Brom with Marcus Tavernier as part of his plans – but the Boro boss admits he cannot guarantee holding on to the midfielder amid mounting interest from Bournemouth.

Tavernier was part of the starting line-up for this evening’s 2-0 friendly win over Marseille, and chipped in with Boro’s second goal as he slotted home a clinical finish with 18 minutes remaining.

However, with Bournemouth understood to be lining up a formal offer for the midfielder within the next couple of days, there is a chance tonight’s appearance could be his last in a Boro shirt.

Bournemouth are understood to value Tavernier at around £12m, and while the Teessiders will almost certainly demand more than that for the 23-year-old, Wilder accepts that every player has their price.

He does want to lose one of his side’s key performers, and will begin to prepare for next Saturday’s game with West Brom with the assumption that Tavernier will still be part of the side. At this stage of the transfer window, however, things can change quickly.

Wilder said: “I’ve got to go into this next week and work on the assumption that it’s business as usual (with Tavernier). But we’re in that situation where anything can happen with anybody.

“Who knows what might happen? Something might come from leftfield, and who knows? We’ve got some good players.

“As I said in a previous interview, Liverpool lost (Sadio) Mane. They weren’t expecting to lose Mane, but they did. I imagine Jurgen Klopp and the board would not have expected to have lost their best player, but their best player went and they had to replace him.

“You’ve just got to realise that this is football, and anybody can go at any time during the window.”

This evening’s game was Boro’s final pre-season outing, and after watching his side outperform a Marseille team that finished second in Ligue 1 last term, Wilder is optimistic about what might lie ahead when the real action begins.

He said: “We played well tonight. We were up against a top outfit, and all we can do is do what we did tonight – compete and play.

“I thought we were good in a lot of things. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and some bodies to come into the group, but it’s been a really useful exercise and it tops off what has been, from my point of view, a really successful pre-season.”