KIM Hellberg says Abdoulaye Kante's starting opportunity in Middlesbrough's Championship opener against Lincoln proves he will give players a chance if they impress in training.
Kante didn't feature in Hellberg's plans last season and was sent out on loan to St Etienne in January shortly after the head coach's arrival.
But after St Etienne fell just short in their bid to win promotion to the French top tier, they weren't able to make his temporary move permanent and Kante returned to Middlesbrough.
Given his standing last season, the initial expectation was that the 21-year-old would move on this summer, but a deal hasn't presented itself and the midfielder set about trying to impress the coaching team.
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And he's clearly succeeded. Hellberg says Kante has done "very, very good" in training and has impressed with his application and willingness to learn.
That resulted in a starting spot for Boro alongside Sebastian Berhalter in the absence of the injured Aidan Morris against Lincoln.
Kante had a nervy start - understandable given his lack of football and experience at the level - but settled before being replaced just after the hour mark by the impressive Myles Peart-Harris.
But Hellberg says the fact Kante was handed a start - and the same could be said for Neto Borges - should make his players realise that positive training ground displays will be rewarded.
"It's always up to the players," said Boro's boss.
"And I told him that before. I think that's the thing everyone learns about me: if you do good things, you get chances.
"It has been that all the time. It was different players last season. You have to do good things in training, and if you do, you get chances.
"Chances doesn’t mean you start a game, it can be you're coming in from the bench for five minutes, it can be you coming on for 15 minutes, it can be you're in the squad. It's different. It's also not always, 'Okay, he's been good one week in training and now he starts.' It's not how it works.
"It's a competition, but when you do good things over time, we've shown 200 times that you get the chance to play. So it's on the players to do that, to listen, to be a part of this. And if you're not doing that, you will not play. That's quite simple."
Hellberg also believes Kante made big positive steps during his loan spell in France.
What does the future hold for the youngster? The return of Morris, the positive early signs from Peart-Harris and the fact Boro are prioritising the signing of another central midfielder before the end of the transfer window means Kante could find himself down the pecking order again, which might well give the club something to think about if there's interest in the coming weeks.
But as things stand, Kante is doing all that has been asked of him and more.
Hellberg said: "With Alpha, he's come back in a good shape, doing everything, and I think the loan benefited him, because that's also another thing - sometimes you need to look at a player and say, 'Okay, he's doing very good here, but he's too far away to play for the moment’, so he may have to go on loan to come back and be closer.
"And that's what Alpha did, and did it brilliantly. He’s been doing very, very good every training session.
"He listens, trains, and did some very good things here [against Lincoln]. So, yeah, we'll see."
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