Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder has insisted that he is going to be cautious when it comes to handling Martin Payero’s return to involvement following his recent fitness issues.

Payero has endured a mixed start to life at Middlesbrough with the midfielder having initially had to bide his time to prove his worth to Neil Warnock at the start of the campaign.

However, the Argentine eventually won over the experienced manager and he started to showcase the talent he could bring to the table for Boro in the middle of the park.

However, Payero has not featured for Middlesbrough since their 1-1 draw with West Brom in Warnock’s final match in charge of the club. That comes with the midfielder suffering some issues with his fitness and that has meant that Wilder is yet to see him in action in a competitive match during his brief spell at the Riverside Stadium.

The Argentine though did make a return to the matchday squad for Middlesbrough’s 1-0 win against Swansea City and then was once again named on the bench by Wilder for the goalless draw at Stoke City. That shows that he is beginning to gain some fitness and he did manage to score twice in a behind closed doors friendly against Huddersfield Town last week.

Speaking to Teesside Live, Wilder has suggested that Payero’s fitness is something that he is going to be cautious over as he wants him to get to grips with the tempo of Saturday and midweek football that you have to be ready for in the Championship.

He said: “Martin Payero scored two very good goals but we have to be really careful with him.

“It’s been really stop-start for him so far and I feel for the boy.

“He’s had his injury issues and he’s in a situation where he’s not really played Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday before.

“Maybe the tempo and intensity of the Championship is something that he doesn't automatically embrace, so we have to be careful with him.

“He only managed 45 minutes in the friendly against Huddersfield but it was good for me to be able to look and watch.”

The verdict

This is a very sensible approach for Wilder to take with Payero and it does show the man-management skills that the Middlesbrough manager brings to the table.

He will be keen to get the midfielder into his side because he does offer the sort of technical quality that the rest of the squad in that position do not have on the same level.

Payero is obviously not a player that is out of favour, in fact, the way Wilder is monitoring closely shows that he feels that the midfielder can have a major part to play when he is fully fit. That has to be something to motivate him to put the work in on the training ground to re-gain his full fitness and show the new manager what he has to offer.

There is no doubt that Payero has shown enough in his brief Middlesbrough career to date to suggest that there is an excellent player in there that can be unlocked.

However, as Wilder says he just needs that period where he can adapt to the English second tier’s more unique fixture challenges. If he can do that then it should not be long before he starts making an impact.