AS he prepares to come face-to-face with his former team-mates tomorrow, Ayegbeni Yakubu last night cited Middlesbrough's "lack of ambition" as the main factor behind his summer move to Everton.

Yakubu will line up against his former colleagues for the first time exactly a month after completing an £11.25m move to Goodison Park

The Nigerian's departure came at the end of a 'will he, won't he' saga that ran for the majority of the close season and became inevitable after a particularly disinterested display at Wigan underlined the depth of his frustration on Teesside.

That frustration began to surface during the second half of last season, and Yakubu has revealed that Middlesbrough's failure to challenge for Europe convinced him that the club had begun to lower its sights.

"I want to play for a club that plays in Europe and, at this moment in time, I don't think they (Middlesbrough) will get into Europe," said the African. "Everton want to be in Europe.

"They want to play in the UEFA Cup, they want to play in the Champions League and they want to win the league. I want to be a part of a club that has ambition.

"I made the right decision to come to this place and I'm not regretting it. I think the ambition here is higher than at Middlesbrough."

Yakubu will be desperate to prove as much to his former team-mates tomorrow, but Gareth Southgate has claimed he will be up against 11 Middlesbrough players even keener to prove he was wrong to turn his back on Teesside.

Life on the banks of the Mersey has hardly proved to be a bed of roses, with Yakubu finding himself dropped to the bench for last weekend's defeat at Aston Villa despite having scored on his Everton debut.

Tomorrow's game offers a perfect opportunity to re-establish his attacking credentials, although Southgate has revealed that Middlesbrough's players are hoping to make a point of their own.

Having watched Yakubu grow ever more critical of their club, the African's former team-mates are ready to prove that Boro are more than a match for Everton in terms of both achievements and ambition.

"We wished Yak well when he left and we remember the good things he did for us," said Southgate, who is hoping that Tuncay Sanli will pass a late fitness test to join Jonathan Woodgate, Gary O'Neil and Mido in a starting line-up that will be much changed from the side that started Wednesday's Carling Cup defeat at Spurs.

"But we obviously want to beat him because, in the end, he didn't want to stay at Middlesbrough. He decided he wanted to move on and I'm sure the lads will feel they have a point to prove to him.

"Every player will have their own motivation for a game and they'll use whatever turns them on to get ready for it. For some of our players, it might be that they want to prove a point to someone on the opposition side."

Yakubu scored 35 goals in 103 appearances for the Teessiders, more than justifying the £7.5m Steve McClaren splashed out to sign him from Portsmouth in July 2005 despite developing a reputation for drying up in the second half of the season.

His Premier League goalscoring record is second only to that of Thierry Henry since he arrived in English football four-and-a-half-years ago - Southgate yesterday admitted that one of England's big four might well have been in for him last month had they not signed strikers of their own earlier in the summer - and his size and strength will ask questions of a Boro defence that is again likely to include 20-year-old David Wheater.

Football's immutable 'law of the ex' suggests Yakubu is bound to find the net tomorrow, but Southgate insists a prior knowledge of the striker's game could enable Middlesbrough's defenders to keep him quiet.

"I didn't score against any of my former clubs," joked the Boro boss. "We know what Yak's strengths are, but we also know what his weaknesses are as well and we'll be ready for him. We have to make sure we adapt to what he does if he gets picked."

Following hot on the heels of Mark Viduka's exit to Newcastle, Yakubu's departure was supposed to herald the start of a difficult season for a Middlesbrough side robbed of their two leading goalscorers. Instead, Southgate's re-modelled side has made a promising start to the campaign, scoring nine goals in 11 matches and lifting themselves into a position whereby a victory tomorrow would take them above their hosts.

"We're certainly ahead of where we were as a team at this time last year," said the Boro boss.

"We have three more points than we had, and we've scored more as well. We've conceded one less in the league, and I know we have a stronger squad in terms of quality. I believe we're progressing, but we have to make sure that progress is accompanied by results."