England defender Jonathan Woodgate has promised he will be back in time for the new season after undergoing knee surgery.

The 27-year-old Middlesbrough star is available for tomorrow's final game of the Barclays Premiership season against Fulham, but will have an exploratory operation the following day in a bid to get to the bottom of a niggling problem.

However, he is confident the injury is only a minor one which will not condemn him to the type of long-term absence he has suffered in recent years.

He said: ''It is nothing serious and I have no doubts I will be fine for the start of next season.

''It started during the Sheffield United home game on New Year's Day and has been troubling me since then.

''I will have the operation on Monday, when the season's finished, but it is only a minor one, nothing to worry about.''

The surgery will rule Woodgate out of England's friendly clash with Brazil and more importantly, the Euro 2008 qualifier in Estonia next month.

While John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are the England coach's current first-choice pairing, he would have been delighted to have the option of turning to the Boro man in the event of injury or suspension.

It is a fair bet that Woodgate would have featured for England B in the friendly against Albania at Turf Moor on May 25, and possibly against Brazil a week later at Wembley, had injury not intervened.

McClaren will now have to consider what might have been while Gareth Southgate could be forgiven for uttering a quiet sigh of relief.

Woodgate has been a revelation for Boro this season following his transfer window move home to Teesside from Real Madrid in August.

He has proved he can endure the rigours of a Premiership season by avoiding the frustrating injuries that disrupted his spells in Spain and Newcastle.

England boss Steve McClaren has praised the ''fantastic achievement'' of the Under-17 side reaching the final of the European Championships in Belgium.

John Peacock's side defeated France 1-0 on Thursday courtesy of a winner from highly-rated Crystal Palace youngster Victor Moses.

They face Spain on Sunday in Tournai when they will look to become the first England youth-team winners of a UEFA tournament since 1993.

McClaren said: ''The Under-17s have been in fantastic form recently and reaching the final is a fantastic achievement."