Michael Carrick is excited about the potential of Isaiah Jones and believes the best is yet to come from the Middlesbrough winger.

Jones burst onto the scene last season in blistering fashion under Neil Warnock and then Chris Wilder, his fantastic form leading then-Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel to tweak his system in order to contain the Boro wide-man when the Premier League side headed for Teesside in the FA Cup quarter-final earlier this year.

But Jones then had a difficult start to the current campaign. Those struggles early this season were understandable. Not only was a slight dip in form expected at some stage for a youngster who was playing non-league football with Tooting and Mitcham three years ago and only made his league debut last year. But Boro were also over-reliant on their wing-backs, and opposition sides often doubled up on Jones.

READ MORE: Michael Carrick's verdict on Luton Town win & praise for 'immense' Middlesbrough duo

Since Carrick's appointment, Jones has been moved forward into a right winger again and the head coach likes what he's seeing from the 23-year-old.

Jones caused Luton problems on Saturday as Boro left it late to make it three wins on the bounce and extend their unbeaten run to five games, moving into the top half of the Championship table.

Hatters boss Rob Edwards admitted Jones was "devastating on the transition" for Boro, the winger's pace resulting in the visitors going down to 10 men with Amari'i Bell's two yellow cards both coming for fouls on the home side's right winger.

And Carrick also praised Jones for his unpredictability.

"I thought he mixed his game up really well," said the Boro head coach.

"We know he dribbles well one v one, he's done that for some time. To get behind your opponent in different ways, whether it's a run, a one-two, I thought he mixed it up really well and great link up between him, Chuba (Akpom), Jonny (Howson) and Tommy (Smith) down that right side, at times little bounces and one-twos and runs in behind.

"I said if you keep asking those questions it's hard to defend and they have to find a different way to stop you and in the end he earned the right."

Carrick has focused on playing to Jones' strength and while he's pleased with the form of his right winger, he says there's much more to come.

"I'm just trying to put the lads in a position to play to their strengths and do what they're good at," said Boro's boss.

"I still think there's loads more to come from Izzy in terms of his development if you look at where he's come from and how his career has gone.

"It's still very early days and he's showed us some really great moments, not just since I've been here but over the period of 18 months. There's still loads more to come from him and loads more to add to his game, so it's really promising."

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