There was talk that the injury was mishandled. Any truth to that?
Yes and no. A lot of it is down to me, I could have been stronger and said 'I want to sit this one out'. But as a young lad, you just want to play football and for the love of the game you want to play as many games as you can. It was my first full season in the first team so I just wanted to show the manager that I wanted to play for them.

Middlesbrough didn't quite have the season you had hoped last term. Why was that?
It is hard to put your finger on it. The manager changed halfway through and that was hard to take. We also didn't get off to a good start. I didn't play the start of the season so I wasn't there either so that makes it more difficult to say. We picked up as the season went on and ended up finishing 12th, which is good seeing as though we were in the bottom four at one point, so it was a good finish at least.

You were one of the favourites to win the Championship before the start though...
We were second or third favourite so it was a big title to live up to. It just wasn't our season, and neither was the season before, but with this manager [Tony Mowbray] I'm sure we can turn things around and hopefully push for promotion next season.

How about purely on a personal level? How do you think the season went?
For myself it was just about getting back from injury. I was delighted with that and have remained fit since then too. I played 12 games, got five or six man-of-the-match awards, so I couldn't be happier with the comeback and obviously coming back into the national team too.

How do you feel about the prospect of another season in the Championship?
It will be good for me, because of the amount of games we play. I need to get a lot of games under my belt, and with this manager and the team, I think we can get promoted - it's exciting times ahead for the club. I can't wait to get back and it will be good to hopefully have a good start and push for that promotion.

There was talk of Bolton being interested. Has Premier League interest turned your head at all?
Yes and no. I'm contracted to Middlesbrough and really enjoying my time at the club, so I don't want to leave to be honest. It's just nice to know people are watching me after only eleven starts, but I am just happy to be playing football again.

Has Tony Mowbray spoken to you directly about where your future lies?
He wants me to stay. He said I am a big part of his plans and that's good for a manager to show faith in you like that. I'm looking forward to the season and staying with Mowbray. I'm sure he can bring the players in that he wants and turn things around.

What has Mowbray bought to the side since being appointed?
He's brought belief. Training is also a lot more chilled out and the lads are getting plenty of rest for game days. He believes in his players, he tells us to go out and play football and all the boys are enjoying it. He got promoted with West Brom so he's got experience in this league. So he knows what it takes to go up, which is the main thing at this level - it's a very hard league to get out of.

He's got a reputation for playing attractive, passing football. How does that suit you?
It suits me down to the ground! I don't like these long balls over the top all the time - I like playing football and Mowbray is encouraging it with all the boys so it's good. It is exciting times ahead and all the boys are looking forward to the challenge.

Where has he been playing you?
I've played more or less up front, as a striker, centre-midfield, right-midfield, right-back, centre-back, and left-back! It has been a pretty up and down season position-wise but I'm happy. As long as I'm playing I'm happy. I played most of my games as centre-back and did well. We lost just one game of the last 12 where I featured, so it's a good record to have under my belt.

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