MIDDLESBROUGH are hugely relieved after influential midfielder George Boateng returned to training with Holland, erasing fears of him spending months on the sidelines.

Initial reports that Boateng had done serious damage to his knee ligaments in a challenge with Mark van Bommel on Tuesday proved unfounded when he trained with the rest of the Dutch squad yesterday.

It now means the Boro midfielder, after coming through his first session unscathed, will almost certainly play some part in Saturday's friendly with Italy.

After slipping and colliding with van Bommel, Dutch doctors were unable to discover the extent of the problem because of the swelling that occurred immediately after the incident.

However, after returning to the squad's hotel base, the injury cleared up overnight and he was deemed fit enough to return to full training yesterday with Marco van Basten's squad.

A Boro spokesman said: "George's injury is not as bad as first feared.

"He had a knock on his knee but it had eased considerably. He felt fine on Wednesday morning, so he was able to train."

Now the Boro midfielder is hoping to play a part against Italy in Amsterdam, as he knows this could be his last opportunity to work his way into van Basten's World Cup plans.

But there was bad news for van Bommel.

The Barcelona playmaker has been ruled out for two months with ankle ligament damage after connecting with Boateng's knee.

Both players were said to have sustained 'serious looking' injuries so Boateng has got off lightly.

It is a major boost for Boro boss Steve McClaren, who is currently with England as Sven-Goran Eriksson's assistant, who knows Boateng has become one of his most important players in recent campaigns.

Last season the Teesiders picked up only ten points from the 14 games which the 30-year-old missed for one reason or another, and they also suffered two cup exits during that run.

Had Boateng returned from international duty prematurely for treatment he would have joined only a clutch of Boro first-teamers at Rockliffe Park.

McClaren has given his squad the week off and has not asked them to return to training until Monday in a bid to keep everyone fresh for the home fixture with Fulham a week on Sunday.

Only the injured quartet of Tony McMahon, Stewart Downing, Ray Parlour and Malcolm Christie will be around over the next few days.

McClaren said: "We have had a lot of games and we are going to give them a complete rest. We have worked them hard in the last couple of international breaks but this time we won't.

"We have another seven games left before Christmas and through the New Year.

"We need them to be completely ready and able."