Mido is still to front for Middlesbrough preseason training.

The Guardian says Gareth Southgate, the Championship club's manager, is understood to have expected his Egyptian striker back today after Mido's no-show all last week but was again let down when he did not appear.

Like Afonso Alves, who neglected to turn up for training at Boro last Monday and Tuesday before finally clocking in on Wednesday, Mido has already been fined two weeks' wages in his absence and severely reprimanded during a phone call with Southgate late last week.

With the striker's apparent hopes of being signed for Sunderland by Steve Bruce fading fast, he could conceivably return to Cairo.

Zamalek have contacted Boro about taking Mido on a season-long loan and, moreover, are ready to pay £1m in an effort to persuade the Teesside club to agree to this arrangement.