Boro defender Lenihan to miss start of season

Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards has confirmed that defender Darragh Lenihan will miss the start of the season with a muscle injury.

Lenihan, who has not featured for the side in a league game since September 2023, has recently been making his comeback from injury but was not present for the side's 2-2 pre-season draw with Deportivo on Saturday.

"Unfortunately, Darragh on Tuesday just felt a bit of a muscle pain," Edwards told BBC Radio Tees after the match.

"I think it's going to be three weeks or so, which is a frustrating one for us and for Darragh because he was doing so well.

"He felt good going into the training session, just literally passed the ball. That was the mechanism."

Another player who did not feature was Rav van den Berg, though Edwards confirmed this was also due to injury and not because of any impending transfers.

The 42-year-old added: "Rav trained part of the session yesterday so not the full session.

"I'm expecting him to train on Monday."

Listen to the full post-match interview with Edwards and more on BBC Sounds.