Middlesbrough boss sends message to Man City amid Sverre Nypan worry

Manchester City loanee Sverre Nypan has not played a full 90 minutes for high-flying Middlesbrough since joining the Championship club in the summer.

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg has insisted he will continue to pick what he perceives to be the strongest team amid claims Manchester City are unhappy with Sverre Nypan's lack of minutes. The Norwegian arrived at the Etihad Stadium last summer after strong interest from a number of Premier League clubs, including Arsenal.

Shortly after joining, City made the decision to loan the 19-year-old to Championship club Middlesbrough to allow him the opportunity to gain experience in English football. Rob Edwards has since left to join Wolverhampton Wanderers and been replaced by Hellberg.

Nypan only made three starts for Boro prior to Edwards' exit and since Hellberg's appointment the City man has not started a single match. Last Saturday, the teenager had a 10-minute cameo in the FA Cup third round as Middlesbrough lost to Premier League Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Amid speculation City are unhappy about Nypan's lack of involvement, Hellberg was quizzed about the midfielder's loan move and whether he or the Blues are disgruntled. He said: "Doesn’t everyone want to play more? If I could have played against Fulham, I would like to have played in that game too.

"It’s the same for everyone. Everyone wants to play as much as possible, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s a few that have played every minute, and I’m sure they are happy, but I’m also sure that everyone else will have wanted to play more.

"The players want to play, and if they are loan players, their club will want them to play as much as possible. But there’s so much more around that, that is important – how they are acting when they are not playing, how can we help them in that situation?

"I think everyone that trains with us can see we are doing as much as we can to help them develop as much as possible. But it is only ten spots and a goalkeeper – you cannot do anything about that.

"I think the environment we create here and how we work and help the players, the players feel that. It is my choice who I put on the pitch, but as long as we are doing all we can to help the players develop, I think they respect that.

"They don’t always agree with the decision, but it’s a very good group to work with."