So influential in Michael Carrick’s first season in charge, Middlesbrough haven’t been able to get McGree in their starting XI anywhere near as much as they’d have liked this term and last.
McGree was limited to just 14 Championship starts last season and that number has dropped to 11 this term ahead of the final day trip to Coventry City.
It’s not clear at this stage whether McGree will feature on Saturday, with the Australian international forced to miss Boro’s last three games after his latest setback.
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And that setback, which came after the defeat at Millwall earlier this month, prompted Boro to send McGree to a specialist. Boro and McGree’s aim was to not just fix the current issue, which Carrick described as “small”, but to try and get to the bottom of why the 26-year-old has endured such a frustrating couple of years.
“It’s not a long-term thing,” said Carrick at the end of last week on McGree’s latest injury.
“We knew at the time it was a small issue, but it is another one that has hampered him and us. We want to get to the bottom of it, and hopefully we now have done, and hopefully we’ll have him around the group next week.
“We’re trying to get to the bottom of if there is something underlying that we can nip in the bud, if that’s what’s causing the other issues, without disclosing too much because I don’t think it’s right to do that.
“But hopefully we have done that now and we can have him back in and around the group next week.”
McGree’s setbacks over the past couple of years have been frustrating for the midfielder and Carrick, and injuries have again plagued Boro this season.
With that in mind, Carrick would rather adopt the patient approach with McGree and try to ensure his problems are behind him rather than rush him back, though the head coach was hopeful at the end of last week that the midfielder would at least be in contention to feature at Coventry at the weekend.
He said: “Of course, a big part of any season and assembling a squad is relying on the boys to be fit as long as possible to give you the choice and the options and the right balance in the squad.
“It’s not been easy to predict over the last year or two. But there’s no extra pressure on Riley in that regard. It’s just taking the now and trying to get him back for the rest of the season and playing a part in the next week in some way.
“We’ll see where that takes us after that.”
