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Boro are on the verge of re-signing Ross Turnbull.

The 28-year-old played in the first half of last night’s friendly against Rotherham and Tony Mowbray has confirmed that he could well bring the keeper back as cover for Jason Steele, who came on at half-time at the New York Stadium.

The Boro boss wants Jayson Leutwiler to go out on loan and gain first team experience and with Connor Ripley regarded as too raw to be promoted to first reserve, Turnbull is seen as an ideal candidate to occupy the bench next season.

Inevitably there will be speculation that Turnbull’s arrival would pave the way for Steele to be sold, but - as far as Mowbray is concerned - the England Under-21 international is here to stay.

Turnbull, who like Steele hails from Newton Aycliffe, in County Durham, is out of contract after being released by Chelsea at the end of last season and has been working on his fitness at Rockliffe Park since July 8.

“He’s been with us training for a couple of weeks,” said Mowbray. “I need to utilise all my goalkeepers.

"Leutwiler needs to play, Ripley needs to play and we had two games last night.

“I asked Ross if he’d play half a game for us and he did that. He’s without a club at the moment and he played a game where he got the amount of time we wanted him to.

“He’s an experienced goalkeeper who’s been at Chelsea.

“I asked him to play because I hadn’t seen him play.

“He hasn’t played a lot of football in the past four years and he was happy enough to play for us and keep his eye in.

“There’s a few things going on in the background,” added Mowbray when asked about Turnbull returning to Boro.

“We’ve spoken to Leutwiler about going out on loan and testing himself in a league situation playing some matches.

“He went a whole season not playing any games for us. He’s got a year left on his deal and we need to see him in action, but Steele needs to keep developing.

“We’ll probably be looking for another goalkeeper because Ripley still has a way to go.

“If Leutwiler was to go out on loan then we would need another goalkeeper to cover. We’ll keep monitoring the Leutwiler situation and take if from there.”