Jonathan Woodgate has praised the attitude of Marvin Johnson this pre-season and revealed that he hopes the left-sided player will remain at the club.

It's fair to say that the 28-year-old has struggled since making the move from Oxford when Garry Monk was in charge and he spent last season on loan at Sheffield United, where he failed to get regular game time.

However, he is back with the north-east outfit now and was one of the more impressive performers in the friendly win over Salford last night.

And, his display went down well with the new Boro boss, who responded positively when asked if Johnson still has a future at the club.

"I hope so. At the minute he's a Middlesbrough player, they're all Middlesbrough players. Marvin has got his head down and has really grafted from his loan last season at Sheffield United," he told Teesside Live.

With Woodgate favouring a 4-3-3 formation, it appears as though the ex-Oxford man is competing with Marcus Tavernier to earn a start on the left of the front three at Luton for Boro's opener on August 2.

The Verdict

This will boost Johnson's confidence and he has clearly impressed Woodgate over the past few weeks.

He has the talent but for whatever reason it hasn't really worked out for him at Middlesbrough and even though the Blades won promotion last season, he didn't play too much of a part in that.

So, the winger will just want to get some minutes next season and it appears he will have a chance to do that under Woodgate if he maintains his recent performances in training and friendlies.

That's his challenge now, although things can chance very quickly in football and Boro will be on the lookout for attacking reinforcements.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.