MIDDLESBROUGH already have one eye on the summer transfer window but are continuing their efforts to strengthen the squad this month.

Head coach Michael Carrick was delighted to land Cameron Archer on loan from Aston Villa last week and Boro will look to further bolster their squad before the window is out - but only if the right deals arise.

Boro have a short term plan of adding players this month if possible but lengthy discussions have already taken place looking ahead to the summer window.

Whether it's this month or at the end of the season, Boro are keen on adding a central midfielder and a wide attacker.

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"We’re always trying to improve the squad, but at this moment I sit here with nothing to tell you. We’ll have to wait and see," said Carrick at his Rockliffe press conference on Thursday afternoon.

 “I wouldn’t say we’re relaxed. We’re relaxed in terms of being happy with the squad and the players that we have at our disposal. But, something I keep saying, we can never be satisfied because we want to keep improving. We’re fortunate in the way the team has been playing, and bringing positive results, and we want to try and keep that momentum up. But that doesn’t change the fact we want to try and improve the squad in January.

"We always try to do that and we always want to do that, and of course we’re already planning ahead for the summer also. There’s a short term and a little more of a longer term plan as well, which is all about us improving as a team."

Boro are still waiting to discover the full extent of Darragh Lenihan's foot injury, but the centre-half will again be missing against Millwall on Saturday. Marc Bola played for the Under-21s this week and was forced off in the first half against Sunderland, but that was a precaution rather than another setback for the defender.

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Carrick said: “There won’t really be any changes from last week, I don’t think in this moment. Darragh we’re waiting to see and we’re hopeful on. We hope it’s short-term, but it could be long-term. We’re still investigating that because he has a problem with his foot. We’ll have to wait and see how he goes.

"Boles was more just a precaution. He came off after treatment because we didn’t think it was worth the risk. We’ll see how we are after the last training session and look forward to Saturday.

 “There won’t be any rash decisions after Brighton. We’re calm and I think it was just a one-off. We might make changes - I’m not writing that off - that’s just the beauty of having the strength of squad that we do.

"But it won’t just be because we got beat off Brighton, and I won’t be judging any players just based off their performance from that game, and the players have done great and whoever has played, come in or dropped out of the team. This team on Saturday won’t be a case of reacting to the result against Brighton.”