Middlesbrough Football Club News

• Nickname:Boro
• Founded:1876
• Manager:Tony Mowbray

• Ground:Riverside Stadium
• Capacity:35,049

Southgate coy over Yakubu

19 Aug 2007 - 10:28:56

Click To Enlarge

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate claims he is in the dark over Yakubu's future at the Riverside Stadium.

The Nigeria international striker was left out of the squad that defeated Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

Yakubu has been linked with a £10million move to Everton in recent days, but Southgate refused to confirm whether he was preparing to sell the former Portsmouth striker.

On Friday Southgate completed the £6.8million signing of Mido from Tottenham and the Egyptian striker scored on his debut.

"We've not had any offers for Yakubu. I just decided that the squad that travelled was the one I wanted for this game," revealed Southgate.

"I've no idea if Yakubu will be sold in the next few days."

Referring to Mido's debut which was capped by a 55th minute equaliser for the Teessiders, he added: "As soon as Mido went into the dressing room I could see the influence he was going to have at the club.

"He has presence, is a character and has confidence. He'll get hold of people and we need that.

"I felt that if he started the match he'd give the whole team a lift.

"He's not played any pre-season games so scientifically he shouldn't have been out there. But he wanted the challenge and that tells you the sort of character he is.

"He gave us confidence and was up for the fight."