Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate remains hopeful that defender Jonathan Woodgate will be fit for the season kickoff.

Woodgate is still some way from full training but a club spokesman said: "Jonathan is still in the final stages of his recovery programme and we will not rule him out at this stage."

After Boro's friendly defeat at Hibernian at the weekend Southgate also said he was hopeful that Woodgate would be ready for the big kick-off.

He said: "Woody is obviously a doubt for the start of the season.

"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."