Boro made six senior signings in what turned out to be a busy winter window, with Mark Travers, Ryan Giles, Samuel-Iling Junior and Kelechi Iheanacho arriving on loan and George Edmundson and Morgan Whittaker joining on permanent deals.
But it’s been a challenging start to life on Teesside for the new arrivals, with Boro out of form and boss Carrick tinkering with his team in search of a winning formula.
Giles has endured a difficult start to his second stint on Teesside and was dropped for the visit of Watford on Saturday, while Iling-Junior and Whittaker have been in and out of the side. Iheanacho, meanwhile, has started the last two games but so far struggled to make an impact.
While Boro are yet to see the best of the new recruits on the pitch, Carrick says he’s been impressed with how they’ve embraced the challenge they’ve walked into.
And he’s sure the new faces will come good in the weeks ahead.
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“It’s been a challenge for them but in a way it’s really positive for me the way the boys have dealt with it,” said Carrick, whose Boro side head for Bristol City tomorrow looking to stop the rot after a run of four successive Championship defeats.
“It would be easy coming into a situation where we’ve ended up losing the games and they came into be successful…but I can’t tell you how well they’ve settled in and their attitude to invest themselves in the group.
“It’s easy to be distant and think this is not what I’ve signed up for, but that couldn’t be any further away.
“In terms of the characters and personalities and professionalism of the boys coming in, it’s been top class. And they’re good players.
“They’ll be fine once they settle in and we’ll be fine as a club, we just need to find that next win and move on from there.”
Travers has played in the Premier League this season, Whittaker has been one of the Championship’s stand-out forwards in the last 18 months, Iling-Junior was playing in the Champions League only a matter of weeks ago and Iheanacho has a wealth of experience from his time at Manchester City and Leicester.
Edmundson and Giles were both players Carrick pushed to sign on the back of the former’s spell on loan in the first half of the season and the latter’s stint on Teesside in the 2023/24 campaign.
Carrick said: “We’ve assembled a squad and brought what we feel are really good players into the group. The boys will be fine. They’re giving everything at the minute, they’ll be fine.”
