Burgess is currently at university, but has spent the past three weeks training with Boro after previously being at West Ham United and Arsenal as a schoolboy.

Mowbray admits the 20-year-old is not ready to make an immediate impact in the first team, but is prepared to hand Burgess a chance at The Riverside.

"There are still some discussions to be had but I would like to think we could offer him an opportunity," said Mowbray in the Evening Gazette.

Talent

"I would like to think we could give him a chance and bring him in for a year or so and see how he does.

"You've got to put it into context that he's just a young boy out of university. Supporters shouldn't expect to see him in the first team for a while, he's chosen a path of education and yet he has talent.

"There's talent there, there's game understanding there, there's physicality there, he's a very intelligent boy.

"As a defender it is quite difficult to make that breakthrough because of the importance of that position. One mistake generally costs you a goal so it's more difficult to throw young players into that scenario."