Juninho back in Brazil

The 29-year-old damaged knee ligaments in Boro's pre-season tour of Italy, which has ruled him out of the Teessiders' Premiership campaign until 2003.

Juninho, who is being worked on by top Brazilian physio Nivaldo Baldo, is to undergo treatment at the PhysioSport Rehabilitation Centre at Campinas near Sao Paulo.

The former Atletico Madrid star will return to the North East in January when he should be nearing full fitness.

"Nivaldo Baldo has everything in his clinic that I need," Juninho opined.

"He has a room there so I will live in the clinic and get treatment full-time.

"My recovery is going well. I've been doing a lot of swimming exercises. I'm going to swim the distance of the English Channel, so someone suggested I try to raise some money for charity.

"I will miss the boys and the atmosphere here.

"But when you're out injured, you can't do anything and it makes you feel sad and upset.

"I want to know how Boro are doing in every game. But I will be able to concentrate more on the injury and do my best to get back to full fitness because feelings are very important when you're recovering from injury."

Juninho has been boosted over the last week by the birth of his son Lucas - who will remain on Teesside with his mother, before joining up with his father in South America.

"The baby will stay for a while with my family and then come and join me," he said.

"He's doing very well and he's sleeping at night, so he doesn't give my wife a big problem."