JULIO Arca is a major doubt for Middlesbrough’s opening game of the season after a scan revealed ankle damage sustained in Saturday’s preseason friendly at Hibernian.

Arca is extremely unlikely to feature in Friday night’s final pre-season game with Sparta Rotterdam, and the Argentinian midfielder now faces a race against time to prove his fitness ahead of the August 16 opener with Tottenham.

While Arca left the field on a stretcher at the weekend, it had been hoped that his injury was not too severe when he was able to walk freely on Sunday.

However, scans have revealed sufficient damage to force him to sit out training, and his participation in Boro’s opening game of the season is now in doubt.

That would leave Gareth Southgate short of central midfield options following the sale of Lee Cattermole, George Boateng and Fabio Rochemback this summer.

Gary O’Neil moved inside at Easter Road, and despite spending almost all of his Middlesbrough career on the right flank, the former Portsmouth midfielder is capable of playing in a more central role.

He is likely to partner Didier Digard if Arca is unavailable in 11 days time, but Southgate will also be pondering a renewed approach for Reading midfielder James Harper given yesterday’s news.

The Boro boss has steadfastly refused to match Reading’s £5m valuation of the 27- year-old, but his resolve may weaken if Arca is unavailable for more than two or three weeks.

Southgate’s immediate priority is this evening’s game at Darlington, and after naming a strong side for Saturday’s trip to Scotland, he will name a more experimental line-up tonight.

Adam Johnson, Tony McMahon, Mohamed Shawky and Marvin Emnes are all expected to feature tonight, but the rest of the side will consist of reserves and juniors.

“We will only play the players who need the minutes,” said Southgate. “We are working towards the minutes on the pitch for everyone, but we have a game on Friday and we won’t be quite as experienced at Darlington.

They start their season on Saturday so I’m not sure what they will do either.

“Physically, we have worked far harder than we have in other pre-seasons and I think we are where we want to be.”

Southgate is particularly pleased with Mido’s fitness after the Egypt international was forced to sit out last month’s tour of the Algarve.

Mido played for more than an hour of Saturday’s 3-2 win in Edinburgh, and Southgate is confident he will be firing on all cylinders come August 16.

“Mido’s attitude has been excellent, and he has given himself a base to work from,” he said. “He had a difficult time last season with injuries so he wants to impress this time.

“He has only had two (preseason) run outs for us so it’s early for him, he’s still finding his feet fitness wise. But he’s a different type of player for us.

He will be suited to different games.”