Juninho: The Boro legend suffered an immediate blow to his third spell on Teesside when he received an anterior cruciate ligament injury in a pre-season friendly in Italy against Modena and missed all but ten of the Teessiders' 2002-2003 campaign.

David Murphy: The highly-rated defender lasted only 15 minutes on his full Premiership debut against Southampton two years ago when he sustained medial knee ligament damage after a challenge with midfielder Chris Marsden.

The 18-year-old did go on to start three more games for Boro that season but never really recovered to show his promise and now plays for Hibs in the Scottish Premier League.

Massimo Maccarone: The club's record £8.15m signing damaged ankle ligaments in a 2003 pre-season friendly at Hull City. The Italian missed four months of play and did not feature for the club again until November.

Malcolm Christie: The striker has endured a nightmare spell at the Riverside since he signed from Derby for a combined fee of £3m with defender Chris Riggott. Christie appeared only seven times before he broke his leg in an innocuous training ground challenge last November. The 25- year-old suffered a further setback in his rehabilitation earlier this month when a scan revealed a stress fracture to the same leg.

Michael Ricketts: The former Bolton striker endured a Boro career plagued by niggling injuries. He made only 12 appearances in his one season on Teesside.

Gareth Southgate: The Boro skipper missed the last ten games of last season with a knee injury. The injury ruled him out of Euro 2004, and his absence arguably robbed the Teessiders of their highest ever Premiership finish.

Ugo Ehiogu: The Hackney-born defender played only 16 games last term after he missed the start of the season with a knee injury. The former Aston Villa defender has played only twice in the current campaign following back and calf injuries.

Joseph Desire-Job: The Cameroon international missed four months of last season with a knee injury before bouncing back to write his name into Middlesbrough folklore by scoring in the club's historic Carling Cup win.

Stuart Parnaby: The 22-year-old defender from County Durham was restricted to only 13 appearances last term after he endured cruciate ligament injury. The England U21 international suffered more bad luck when it was learned he will be out for up to 12 weeks after he broke his leg in training last week.

Andrew Davies: The 19-year-old broke his leg in a reserve match against Blackburn in March. Ironically, the highly-rated centre half was injured again on a reserve-team visit to Blackburn in September.

Michael Reiziger: Suffered an injury to his shoulder in Boro's 2-0 victory at Craven Cottage against Fulham - their second game of the season. The Holland international has received surgery and is not due back until the middle of November.