HARDLY a day goes by at Rockliffe without Michael Carrick giving one of Middlesbrough's academy youngsters the opportunity to step up and train with the first team.

The head coach has been more than willing to give Boro's young talent a first team chance since his appointment in October. Hayden Hackney has established himself as a crucial first team regular, while the likes of Pharrell Willis, Sonny Finch and Bryant Bilongo have all featured in matchday squads.

Opportunities for homegrown players is crucial, says Carrick, who believes the pathway from the academy to the first team needs to be "visible". But that doesn't mean he includes youngsters for the sake of it. They'll only get a chance if the head coach believes they're good enough and if they impress in training.

And at Rockliffe, opportunities come along often.

"I’d say pretty much every day, certainly more often than not, we’ve got younger players coming up to train with the first team," explained Carrick.

"It depends on what games they’ve got coming up, of course. But it’s good for them to come and train in that environment, for experience but also to give us the opportunity for us to look at them a little bit closer and see how they fit in with the group.

"It’s a big change jumping up to the first team, and it’s such a strong first-team group as well, particularly in terms of how they train and the intensity they train at. It’s always a good test for the young boys to come up and you never know really how they’ll react until they do come and they’re in and around that.

"Some will really kick on and catch you by surprise, maybe do a little better than you expect. Others it can be a bit more testing and they have to go back to the 21s but learn from the experience and be ready to come back again in the future.

"A big part of it for me is about bringing young players on, developing them as players and giving them a chance. We’re all for that. We can’t give every single player a chance, of course, but it’s great to see Sonny involved lately.

"He’s trained really well with us for a period of time now, and he’s deserved the chances that have come his way. It’s a case of balancing that now and making sure he gets enough game time, so playing for the U21s and training with us, and then when the opportunity comes, playing for us again. But at the moment, he’s doing fantastically well and hopefully there are plenty more boys who will get that opportunity in the future as well."

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Opportunities and involvement for the likes of Finch and Willis will boost the belief of their Under-21 teammates and the Under-18s who are coming through.

Carrick says: "It’s important that the pathway is visible. We don’t want them coming up to train with us to just look like a gimmick.

"It’s what we want to do. The club spends a lot of money on the academy and put in a lot of time and effort - from all the coaches and background staff to players involved at that level - for a reason. We’re trying to get as many up and around and playing for the first team as possible. I’m fully behind that.

"It’s up to us to try and help them develop and also pick the right time to give them their opportunities. So we always have a look, give them chances, and try and help them all out in different ways. Sometimes that’s training, sometimes that might be five minutes on the pitch to see how they react and deal with it. Because, until you’re actually on that pitch and there’s a bit on that game in that situation, you never know how they’ll cope with it. For me, that’s really interesting to see."