Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate is optimistic that Jonathan Woodgate could have a chance of being fit for the start of the Premiership season.

Southgate has played no part in Boro’s pre-season as of yet, since he is still recovering from his knee surgery.

“Woody is obviously a doubt for the start of the season,” said Southgate.

“He’s not into full training yet and with him we’ve got to be a bit patient.

“The recovery from the operation that he had could be 12 weeks, could be 14.

“That couple of weeks takes us into the start of the season, but we knew that was a possibility and fortunately it’s a position we’ve got a fair amount of cover in.”

A club spokesman added on Monday: “Jonathan is still in the final stages of his recovery programme and we will not rule him out at this stage.”