Rob Edwards dealt frustrating double Middlesbrough blow | OneFootball

The Boro boss has been handed a double injury blow just two weeks before the start of the Championship season.

Middlesbrough head coach Rob Edwards will have to start the 2025/26 Championship season without key first-team players Finn Azaz and George Edmundson.

Boro get their new season off and running in just two weeks' time at home to Swansea City on 9 August.

It's going to be a campaign of transition, as Edwards attempts to do what his predecessor Michael Carrick failed to do in the previous two terms, and that's return Middlesbrough to the play-offs.

Getting a fast start - something Boro have failed to accomplish in recent seasons - is always key to building that momentum and winning feeling.

However, he's going to have to do it without the help of two important first-team players.

Middlesbrough duo Finn Azaz and George Edmundson to miss start of the season

A frustrating summer on Teesside has just been made even more so, as Boro fans will be waking up on Friday morning to the news that two key players will miss the early exchanges of the new campaign.

A report from The Northern Echo has detailed Edwards' confirmation that Finn Azaz and George Edmundson will both be sidelined for the next few weeks.

Central defender Edmundson is understood to have suffered a calf injury on the very first day of Boro's pre-season training, and is now set to require two weeks of absence before returning to fitness.

Boro's attacking midfield maestro Azaz, on the other hand, is stated as having suffered a muscle injury, and isn't expected to be ready for a return to full training until late August.

Speaking on the two injury blows, Edwards said: "George was a really disappointing one. It was the very first day when he felt his calf. Day one. He’ll be a couple more weeks, I would have thought at the moment.

"Finn had a tightness in his quad. It was scanned, and he’s probably going to be around three weeks as well. That’s where he’s at.

"It’s really frustrating because he was looking brilliant in the early days – really motivated and looking really good. He’s a naturally fit boy, so we’re hoping that we get him back quickly and he doesn’t require too much getting up to speed."

Edwards also confirmed that goalkeeper Seny Dieng, who has been absent since rupturing his Achilles in December, has been back on the grass, but there is an acceptance that he still has a way to go before being back ready for selection.

Rob Edwards' threadbare Middlesbrough squad becomes even more stretched

As of Friday morning, Edwards is still to make his first signing as Middlesbrough head coach this summer.

That's soon expected to change given that Boro have agreed a £3m deal to sign Hull City centre-back Alfie Jones, whilst also reportedly being close to securing a deal for young Troyes midfielder Abdoulaye Kante.

However, until those new arrivals are in the building, Edwards' lack of strength in depth and quality options to turn towards, in certain areas of the squad in particular, are very thin indeed.

That's been made abundantly clear in Boro's opening two pre-season games on home soil, having thrown away a 3-0 lead at half-time vs Mansfield Town to draw 3-3, before losing 2-0 to newly promoted League One outfit Bradford City.

Not helping matters either was the fact that both Riley McGree and Alex Bangura - both of whom were making their returns from injury this summer - were forced off in the first-half through injury, the severity of which is yet to be discovered.

Injury problems have wreaked havoc on Middlesbrough's campaigns in recent times, and as such, there will be a worrying sense of déjà vu on Teesside after these fresh injury woes before a competitive ball has even been kicked in 25/26.