9:33am Wednesday 8th July 2009
Exclusive By Paul Fraser
WHILE two of his Middlesbrough team-mates avoided training, Stewart Downing moved a step closer to a return to Rockcliffe Park last night after discovering he can now start gym work as part of his recovery programme.
A leading London specialist told Downing his foot injury has healed and he can work towards having the screw inserted to help the bone repair removed in mid-September.
The 24-year-old is now confident he will be back in action by October.
The development has encouraged Downing’s admirers to make their move now, with Aston Villa expected to step up their interest within the next six weeks.
Middlesbrough still hope to sell the left-winger to fund a recruitment drive and Villa are being kept informed about the situation.
Villa manager Martin O’Neill, who tried to sign the player last summer, remains keen on adding Downing to his squad and is determined to fend off interest from Tottenham.
Spurs have been long-standing admirers and were encouraged to make contact by chief executive Keith Lamb a month ago.
And while Downing’s foot injury looked to have prevented a summer sale, it is now expected to happen.
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate still has other players who will raise raise funds – a fact reaffirmed by events of the last 48 hours.
Tuncay Sanli is an almost definite departure, but the Boro boss has been left in no doubt about two other players’ futures.
While Tuncay is believed to have extra time off to recover from his summer international commitments, Mido and Afonso Alves were missing for the second day of pre-season training yesterday.
The £18.7m strikeforce have been absent without leave from the Rockcliffe Park training HQ and both are expected to be hit with fines.
Southgate was fronting an inquiry into why Mido and Alves failed to report for training, but neither are likely to be welcomed with open arms on their return.
A club spokesman said: “The players returned to training on Monday. A number of them were missing, some with permission and others without. The matter will be dealt with internally.”
Middlesbrough will have to take a substantial hit on their investments if they sell before the start of the season, with neither forward capable of attracting the sort of money paid out on them.
The Boro boss has already made it clear Mido is not in his long-term plans and he had hoped to offload him to Wigan, where he was on loan, until Steve Bruce left for Sunderland.
There has been interest from Benfica in Alves, although the Portuguese club are finding it difficult to find cash for the transfer of the Brazilian who cost Middlesbrough £12.7m 17 months ago.
Alves still has three years remaining on his contract.
Their failure to appear for training has infuriated Southgate, who did give Tuncay, Brad Jones, Adam Johnson and Andrew Taylor permission to extend their break.
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