Middlesbrough manager Tony Pulis says he’s hoping that Middlesbrough will benefit greatly from the promising midfield partnership between Super Eagles Captain John Obi Mikel and Bosnia’s Muhamed Besic.

Middlesbrough is aiming to return to the top flight division again after a long spell in the Championship and the team is currently not in the automatic promotion position on the table , meaning they have to continue fighting to improve their current league status before the end of the season.

Mikel who moved to Riverside from Chinese Super League side Tiajin Teda has been very impressive since joining and manager Tony Pulis is happy with his commitment towards the Club’s promotion push.

Besic on his part was also instrumental in the team victory at the weekend, setting up the two goals that secured the valuable three points against Queens Park Rangers.

”I thought Besic was excellent in the first half, that was like him last year,” Pulis told reporters .

“We’ve got to get him up to that level. There are 13 games left, that’s a lot of games.

“And if we can get Besic up to that level that he was at last year, him and John [Obi Mikel]…yeah, that’s an awesome pair in midfield.

The former Stoke City Boss added the Mikel will bring the best out of Besic who’s on loan from Everton.

“It might help him [Besic] that the two of them are close together; they both live next to each other now, so John might bring that out of him.”

Middlesbrough will return to Championship action on Saturday 2 March when they play away to Wigan Athletic.