MIDDLESBROUGH head coach Aitor Karanka admits it was a difficult decision to let Richard Smallwood leave in the summer and he expects the Teesside midfielder to come out with a point to prove when his side play Rotherham on Saturday.

Smallwood signed a three-year deal with the Millers as Karanka looked to make his own mark on the squad he inherited from Tony Mowbray a year ago.

The Dormanstown midfielder enjoyed spells in the first-team under Mowbray, but it became clear he would not feature in the Spaniard’s plans on a regular basis.

Smallwood was part of Rotherham’s promotion success having spent the second half of last season on loan at the New York Stadium, but Boro moved to bring in Adam Clayton and that signalled the end for the Boro academy graduate.

“Richard is the kind of player you always like to have in your squad,” the Boro boss said.

“He is the kind of player who trains every day perfect, he is a very good professional, an amazing lad but we brought in Clayton in his position and we needed other kinds of players.

“But he's the kind of player who if he has success he deserves it because he is an amazing player and an amazing lad.

“I can expect him to give his best performance because the first thing he will want to show everybody is that he could play here.

“I can understand that 100 per cent but we have to think about our squad and wish him all the best.”

Boro go into Saturday’s game without a win in their last two games. They suffered defeat at the hands of Wolves and as a fellow promoted team Karanka is expecting another tough test from the Millers.

He said: “Rotherham is a very tough game, we have to learn from our game at Wolves last week.

“They are a team that was in League One last season, it is a very tough team and we have to forget how we played against Watford because it is a completely different team.

“It is a typical Championship team, a team who likes to play but usually plays long balls to their strikers so for this reason I expect a different game from Watford last Saturday.”