The milestones and personal accolades continue to build for Rav van den Berg.
Since arriving at Boro as an 18-year-old from his hometown club PEC Zwolle last July, the Dutchman’s progress has been impressive.
Last season saw the defender make 35 Sky Bet Championship appearances – even captaining the side on one occasion – before winning the Young Player and Player of the Season awards, the latter voted by the Boro fans.
Van den Berg has now collected another prize, having been announced as the Boro Supporters’ Club 2020 Young Player of the Season for 2023/24.
This week he scored his first goal for his country, netting in a 3-0 win for the Netherlands U21s against Sweden. The result completed a perfect European Championship qualifying campaign for the Dutch.
It was the latest in a long line of highlights for the young centre-back, and we caught up with him to reflect on his progress…
“Representing your country is always something special,” van den Berg, now 20, told mfc.co.uk. “The Euros are coming up next summer, which makes it an even bigger year for us.
“It’s an honour to be part of the national team set-up and to score my first goal was a really good feeling.”
After appearing for Netherlands U15s for the first time in 2019, van den Berg represented his country at U16, U18, U19 and U20 level before earning a place in the U21 squad.
Competition for places is fierce in the senior ranks, with Virgil van Dijk, Nathan Ake, Stefan de Vrij, Matthijs de Ligt and Micky van de Ven among those competing for places.
Rav’s brother Sepp, of Brentford, is another of those standing in the way of a full national call.
But what is the secret behind the Dutch’s success in the position?
“I actually don’t know!” van den Berg said. “Maybe it’s because we’re a tall country.
“I’ve just had a conversation about this with Woody (Jonathan Woodgate). We have so many central defenders, but it doesn’t matter. If I perform well, I know I can be one of them as well.
“Of course those players are there but you don’t have to look at them. You just have to keep performing and hopefully I can be there as well. That is my target.”
Sepp van den Berg moved from Liverpool to Brentford in the summer, and his progress as a player helped to shine light on a pathway Rav would go on to tread himself.
He added: “We were competitive when we were younger, but now it’s just that we want to see each other perform well.
“The dream for both of us would be that we are both in the Dutch team. That would be the ultimate dream and hopefully we can achieve that.
“When I was younger, because of the things he had already experienced, I knew what to expect in certain situations. That was really helpful to me.”
The brothers both progressed through the ranks of PEC Zwolle – located about 70 miles from Amsterdam - before making moves to England.
Rav settled quickly on Teesside, establishing himself as a key part of Michael Carrick’s squad over the last 15 months.
He insists, though, that the best is yet to come.
The defender said: “There have been ups and downs.
“I ended last season quite well with the two awards, but I still think I could have done a lot of things better.
“I’ve had some injuries and I think I can be better in certain areas, and I know in some games I could have performed better. I’m developing and just want to keep improving.”
The awards, too, were significant.
Van den Berg added: “It means a lot.
“As a player, confidence is really important. If you don’t play with confidence your performances can go down a lot.
“When you win awards like this it gives you a lot of confidence.
“It was a really nice feeling to win those awards in my first year at a new club and I’m really thankful for that recognition.”
Boro host Bristol City on Saturday as they aim to return to winning ways after the international break.
On the importance of the game, van den Berg said: “It’s a big game because the schedule is quite busy now.
“If you start the period well you have confidence for the next games, so we want to get the confidence up and prepare ourselves for this set of fixtures.
“The fans have been really good since I came to the club and they give us extra motivation to perform even better.”