SIDELINED Middlesbrough star Juninho is confident he will come back 'as good as ever' from a serious knee injury.

The Brazilian is yet to kick a ball in the Premiership this season following his £3.8m move from Atletico Madrid in the summer.

Juninho suffered anterior knee ligament damage during a pre-season tournament in Italy and he is currently recovering from a successful operation.

The 29-year-old is still continuing his rehabilitation at Professor Nivaldo Baldo's sports physiotherapy centre in Campinas, near Sao Paulo.

And the World Cup winner, expected back to England later this month, believes he will be back to his best before the end of the season.

He told the club's official website: ''We've been doing lots of exercises working on power, particularly on the bike, and lots of tests. We've also done warm-ups similar to those the team do before games and before training. It's all about using my left leg more and more.

"I could have been running a month ago but I want the knee to feel as strong as the right one, so for now we are concentrating on strengthening it.

"Running is not so important at the moment. Eventually we will start to do more running and the very last thing we do will be working with the football.

"It's been a very frustrating time. These things take time of course, but my wish is to come back as good as ever."

Juninho revealed he opted to stay in South America while recovering so that he could be close to his family and friends.

And he insists he can't wait to start his third competitive spell on Teesside. He added: ''Nobody wants to be there more than me. I'm looking forward to being back in Middlesbrough, but when I get there I want to be able to do everything and I have to take time. It will be very soon.''