NEW signing Ashley Phillips won't be involved for Middlesbrough in Saturday's game at Blackburn Rovers, with Kim Hellberg instead keen to work on the defender's fitness before rushing him into action.
Boro were thrilled to land Phillips on a permanent deal from Tottenham last week, but the 21-year-old didn't have much of a pre-season with Spurs so is understandably playing catch-up from a fitness point of view.
Phillips has had his first full week training with Boro but has dipped in and out of sessions with the first team and combined that with some individual fitness and conditioning work.
With Boro well stocked at the heart of the defence, there's no need for Hellberg to rush Phillips and he will give the defender as long as he needs. Boro are in Carabao Cup action against Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night, which might be a good opportunity to give Phillips some match minutes, but Hellberg will make that decision after Saturday's game at Blackburn, where Aidan Morris will return to the squad.
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On Phillips, Hellberg said: "He's not in for Saturday. He hasn't done much at all (in pre-season), but he has of course worked himself.
"He's one of the only few who's not in for selection on Saturday.
"We'll see if it's possible to have him with us on Tuesday or if it's the next Saturday or whatever it is, but we need to be careful with when we involve him and how we build him up.
"That will be a key part. He has been training with us, mainly outside of the group sessions, but trying to do some things with us.
"We're trying to build him up and that will take a bit of time and we need to have a bit of patience with him. He'll be a very good player for us."
Morris's return is a big boost for Boro with the midfielder having missed the first two competitive games of the season.
David Strelec also missed the wins over Wrexham and Lincoln City but is now back in training, though it's not clear at this stage whether Saturday's game at Ewood Park might come too soon.
Hellberg said: "Aidan is much better and will absolutely participate in the game.
"David has just started training. We'll see if he can be on the bench or not, but Aidan is much better."
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