Mido facing anxious wait

Boro striker could miss rest of the season with hernia

Last updated: 29th March 2008

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Middlesbrough have been handed a blow with the news Mido could miss the remainder of the season.

The Egyptian striker is waiting to learn if he will require a hernia operation, with a decision expected to be passed by the end of the weekend.

Mido has a suspected abdominal tear and will need to go under the surgeon's knife should scans prove affirmative.

Boro boss Gareth Southgate concedes it is another body blow in what has been a miserable debut campaign for the player at The Riverside.

"It's a possibility that Mido might need an operation," Southgate told the Evening Gazette.

"At the moment he is having some tests on a possible hernia and so we are just assessing the situation.

"He would be the first to say he has had a horrendous time really.

"Hopefully it won't be the case that he needs an operation but if it is, it gives him an opportunity to sort all of his clinical problems out and get himself completely fit because really we've kept throwing him in at times when we've known he is not fully ready.

"We haven't seen the best of him and we've perhaps got to say: 'Right, let's work towards getting him completely right and then hopefully we have a new player for next season'.

"We will find out in the next couple of days."