Dael Fry and Hayden Hackney both captained Boro last season but have since left the club.
Luke Ayling has previously captained Boro and is obviously armed with bags of experience, while Aidan Morris is another obvious candidate given his importance on the pitch and his clead leadership qualities.
Alfie Jones is another who will no doubt be in Hellberg’s thinking. He has previously captained Hull City and is a leader regardless of whether or not he’s wearing the armband.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Tommy Conway is another who might potentially be considered. Conway is of huge importance on the pitch to Hellberg and is a massive character in the dressing room, despite the fact he’s still only 23. Adilson Malanda has also captained Boro during pre-season.
Ayling was named skipper for Saturday’s 3-3 friendly draw with Espanyol, but Hellberg says: “I haven’t decided anything yet. We will see what happens.”
It’s not clear at this stage whether Hellberg will decide on a captain ahead of Friday’s Carabao Cup first round tie against Wrexham or whether he’ll continue to assess his options, as was the case with Rob Edwards at the start of last season.
The head coach said: “We lost both Dael and Hayden who were the two captains last season, but there was no stress with that.
“Bill is an unbelievable person and leader for our group and always does everything professional, and you saw that again [on Saturday].
“I think he’s come back very strong. But there’s a lot of good people here, a lot of good leaders, a lot of people that want to be successful for Middlesbrough, for the supporters.
“They’re all working very hard. It’s a brilliant group of players I work with, and we will see what happens with that when we start.”
