The turn of the year marks a special one for Teesside defender Dael Fry.

This August will mark ten years since a 17-year-old Fry made his first-team debut, ten years after he first joined the club’s esteemed academy. It was the first game of the season that Boro went on to win promotion under Aitor Karanka, which little did the young defender know at the time, would be, ten years later, still their last season in the Premier League.

Now such an important first-team player for Boro, Fry struggles to believe he’s now entering his testimonial year for his boyhood club. He remains just as determined as ever to ensure he helps them back to the top flight.

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“My sister just reminded me the other day that it’s my 20th year at the club,” Fry said. “When she said it I just thought that it was absolutely mental. It’s bizarre. For me, to do that for my hometown team is surreal and the next step is to get Middlesbrough promoted and to play for them in the Premier League.

“I still feel like I’ve got a lot more to give with Middlesbrough. This is the best that I’ve felt in my career. I’ve been in and out injured quite a bit but now I’ve got no niggles, no injuries and hopefully I can continue for a lot more years at Middlesbrough.”

Ten years on, he still remembers that debut at Preston North End’s Deepdale. He recalls: “I remember my debut. It feels like yesterday. I told my mum and dad and they were absolutely buzzing.I just remember being so nervous but at Preston you walk out in the corner and I saw all the red in the away stand, it was all sold out, and I just thought ‘wow, these are the games you want to play in’. As soon as the game kicked off the nerves went, we drew 0-0, but it’s mad how quick time goes.”

After his most recent man of the match display in Sunday’s draw with Burnley, Fry has now racked up 248 appearances for Boro. Despite that, the novelty hasn’t worn off of the honour of representing his boyhood club, and he’d look to end his career as a modern-day rarity by being a one-club man.

“It’s special to play for my hometown team,” he said. “It is quite hard as well because I know everyone from Middlesbrough. I go to Morrisons and everyone knows me. But I love that as well. And it's good because if we get a result at the weekend I know everyone in the town is happy.

“It's fantastic playing for my hometown team.It's hard when you've lost. You have your family and friends and they'll go to work and be getting asked about stuff. But the older I've got, the more I've learnt how to deal with it.”

Learning to deal with it was made easier almost two years ago when Fry became a father to a daughter who is now 17 months old. While football remains an obviously important part of his life, becoming a dad put into context its real importance.

On fatherhood, he admits: “That was the hardest year of my life, the first one, with the nightfeeds. I didn’t realise how much your life would change but now she is walking, talking and I’m really enjoying it and it’s fantastic. There are things more important than football and I’ve realised that since becoming a father. As hard as it is, it’s beautiful.”

Fry made his seventh appearance of the season on Sunday against Burnley. It followed a frustrating nine-month period out of action with an injury which wasn’t believed to be serious initially. It would end his last season prematurely last term before setbacks on his return in the summer delayed his comeback to December.

“At first we didn't know the severity of the injury,” he details. “I was just sort of getting injections and trying to deal with it. But then we decided we couldn't keep going like that, I needed to know what it was and deal with it.

“In the summer I ended up getting surgery (double hernia surgery) but came back a little bit too early and done my calf twice. So I thought, ‘Right, I'm going to use this time now and be in the gym, doing all my conditioning, eating right’ and the past nine weeks for me have been top. I feel like I'm in the best shape I can be in.”

Of course, with ten years as a senior player at Boro, it hasn’t always been plainsailing. One particular campaign that was disrupted by injury sticks prominently in his mind when asked about his biggest regrets.

“I still look back on that time of my career [when Jonathan Woodgate was in charge] with a bit of regret,” he says with genuine sorrow. “Woody had so much faith in me and it was so stop-start for me and I had loads of little niggles.

“I always heard the stuff he was saying and I really wanted to back that up for him and prove him right but I never felt like I did. Now I actually feel like I can do that. I train with Woody day in, day out and he's so good with the defensive lads.”

Now 27, Fry is clear about what he hopes to have achieved by the time the next ten years have passed.

“I want to be in the Premier League with Middlesbrough,” he says without hesitation. “I did think that would have come a bit sooner but it hasn't been meant to be. But this year there's just a different feeling. Even with the coaching staff. It just feels a little bit different. There's strength all over the pitch.

“We’ve had some really good squads over the years but we haven’t quite made it. This year, I feel there’s something different, there’s a lot of quality at the top end of the pitch. The year that we got promoted, I really feel like there is a little bit of that feeling coming back and we’ve got a right good chance. We have strength in depth all over the place.”