Middlesbrough’s loss is Albion’s gain ahead of Saturday evening.

Middlesbrough will be without one of last season’s standout players, Paddy McNair, for the season opener against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday evening.

The Northern Ireland international was struggling following an injury in training prior to the match-up but even if he was to recover in time, the 27-year-old remains suspended for the contest as a follow on from last year.

Paddy McNair suffered two relegations in as many seasons with Sunderland before moving on to Middlesbrough.

placeholder image — Paddy McNair suffered two relegations in as many seasons with Sunderland before moving on to Middlesbrough.

Speaking on McNair’s current status, Wilder told TeessideLive: “He just turned his ankle over in training and it just shows how quickly you can lose a player.”

“You’ve lost a player just like that from an innocuous coming together in training. These things happen from time to time and you can’t do much about it.

“It’s not an overuse and underuse injury, it’s a compact one, turning his ankle in training, going for a tackle with one of the boys and falling awkwardly. These things can happen.

“We’re hopeful it won’t be too long, obviously he misses the first game of the season anyway, so we’ll see how he goes with that one and hopefully get him back as soon as possible because he is a big player for us.”

One player that has returned to fitness just in time for The Boro is Marc Bola.

The full-back had been suffering with a tight groin but was able to get some minutes in in Boro’s final pre-season friendly fixture against Marseille and will be back in contention for a start.