THE Middlesbrough future of Sam Greenwood remains uncertain but Michael Carrick has praised the Leeds United loanee for his response to losing his place in the team.

Greenwood has featured in 31 of Boro's 37 league fixtures, making 21 starts, since joining from Leeds on a season-long loan but has had to settle for a spot on the bench in the last three games.

Boro have the option of making Greenwood's loan switch permanent in the summer for just £1.5m but that is complicated by the fact the 21-year-old would be in-line to receive a wage increase at Elland Road should Leeds win promotion.

Daniel Farke's side are currently second in the Championship and haven't lost since December.

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Despite the Greenwood uncertainty, Carrick is unconcerned and says he hasn't felt the need to discuss the situation with the forward. The head coach is happy to wait until the summer for the matter to be resolved.

"It's not the time now for me to bothering Sam on that," said Carrick.

"It's focusing on the games. As I said with Jonny (Howson) and there are one or two others (out of contract or approaching end of loans), in time it will work itself out.

"Timing is important with these sorts of things, with contracts and transfers. When it's the right time things will get finalised."

He might have lost his place in the side in the last couple of weeks but Carrick has been impressed by Greenwood's reaction and says the versatile forward still has a key role to play between now and the end of the season.

He said: "Sam has been great, he trains unbelievably well, really enjoys it here. You can see that.

"Yeah, of course, he'd like to have played more over the last week or so but he's important for us, he's had a big impact and he's played a big part in what we've done and he will continue to do that."