Darragh Lenihan and Ryan Giles settling seamlessly at Middlesbrough, to Chris Wilder's delight

Chris Wilder is delighted to see new boys Ryan Giles and Darragh Lenihan settling seamlessly at Middlesbrough, with big seasons ahead for both. The pair both played in a Boro shirt for the first time last weekend as they played the first half of the win at Bishop Auckland in the pre-season opener.

Lenihan and Giles are both early additions to Wilder's squad this summer, along with goalkeeper Liam Roberts who is, initially at least, expected to play backup to another new arrival between the sticks. Work is ongoing at Boro to add more new faces to the squad as the Boro boss targets promotion to the Premier League this summer.

Wilder remains optimistic with how things are going and spoke recently about the need for patience when chasing the calibre of players that Boro are this summer. But early additions offer a good time period to bed in ahead of the new season, which is now just over three weeks away. And with that in mind, Wilder is delighted with what he's seen from Lenihan and Giles so far.

How new players, trialist Smith and youngsters fared as Middlesbrough start pre-season with Bishop win

Wilder said of his new additions: “They’ve been spot on. We understand the level that we played against [on Saturday], but it was pleasing that we had a lot of the ball and when we had to defend we defended. I think you saw the quality Darragh brings to the group. I think he impressed but I don’t need to be hugely impressed because I know what I was signing and what I was getting with bringing him to the football club.

"It’s the same with Ryan. They’ve both fitted in seamlessly and both have excellent personalities. They’re both good characters and are very good players too. I think Gilo showed two or three times what he’s about