MICHAEL Carrick is excited about what Morgan Whittaker can add to his Middlesbrough side - with the new recruit offering crucial versatility in the forward line.

The 24-year-old is equally as comfortable playing on the flank or as a No.10, which will present Carrick with some intriguing attacking dilemmas in the second half of the season.

Whittaker is available to face Boro against Sunderland on Monday night and, if Tommy Conway isn't deemed fit enough to start, one option for Carrick is to move Delano Burgzorg up-front and hand his new recruit his full debut.

“He’s flexible. He can play wide, but he can also play inside the pitch," said Carrick.

"He’s obviously got a fantastic left foot and has used it to score a lot of fantastic goals, and goals that have decided games.

"That’s something that we’re excited to have within the team. In those games that are tight and we maybe need something a bit different or special, he’s certainly got that. He’s flexible and fitting in, he’ll play different positions and have different roles comfortably, which was part of the attraction."

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Whittaker has been one of the brightest attacking talents in the Championship over the course of the last season and a half, and played his way into the Team of the Season last term, despite the fact he was playing for lowly Plymouth.

Lazio and Burnley both failed in bids to sign the forward before Boro's successful pursuit this month.

Carrick said: “We’re excited and a big fan of Morgan, which is why we made such an effort to bring him here. We know what he can do and what his attributes are. What’s to come, how we can help him improve and produce even more, is what’s exciting.

"We’ve got good forward players and that’s proven with the amount of chances and goals we’ve created over the course of the season. We’ve got good variety, good flexibility and players who can play with each other in different positions. We feel like that’s a really strong part of our group at the moment."