Grounds has made 13 appearances for Hibs this season

Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray has hinted that Jonathan Grounds could return to the Riverside when his loan spell at Hibernian expires next month.

The defender, 22, joined the Scottish Premier League side in August and has made 13 appearances for the Edinburgh club, scoring once.

"There's a fair chance Jonathan is coming back," Mowbray told BBC Tees.

"Financially it's not too much of an issue, he can play left-back, centre-half and give us something to look at."

Mowbray added: "It would give him an opportunity to try to impress for his own position in the team."

Thornaby-born Grounds has featured 32 times for his parent club since signing professional terms in 2007.

Meanwhile another Middlesbrough player away is former England under-21 left-back Andrew Taylor, who has made 17 league appearances for Watford since completing a loan move to Vicarage Road in August.

The 24-year-old has racked up 125 appearances for Middlesbrough since emerging from the academy, but has featured just once for the Teessiders first-team this term.

"Andrew is doing pretty well at Watford," Mowbray said.

"There are a couple of different issues in my mind with Andrew, there's the financial aspect of it for our club, and the Joe Bennett factor.

"I'm trying to encourage Joe to grow in stature every week and stamp his name on the left-back spot.

"In my mind there's no reason to rush into a decision about Andrew and brining him back, because he'd have a fight to get back in the team, and at the same time I have had discussions with Watford and there's still a fair chance he might be coming back to compete for his place in the team.

"The deal that we're doing with Watford probably doesn't suit this football club, it's a very different situation for Watford, so we might see him back yet, but that's up in the air at the moment."

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