IT has turned into one of the most troublesome transfers of the summer, but Gareth Southgate is confident that the capture of Mido will provide the missing link in Middlesbrough's forward line.

After spending the majority of last weekend fending off competition from North-East rivals Sunderland, Boro officials are expected the confirm the £6.8m capture of Mido this morning.

The Egypt international completed a medical at the club's Rockliffe Park training ground yesterday and, with personal terms also agreed, all parties are confident of concluding a deal that had looked to be in jeopardy as recently as Friday night.

Southgate's reluctance to admit defeat when Sunderland dramatically upped their offer to Spurs underlines the extent of his determination to land Mido.

Despite scoring only one Premier League goal last season, the 24-year-old boasts similar physical attributes to former Middlesbrough striker Mark Viduka.

And with neither Jeremie Aliadiere or TunÃay Sanli boasting the muscularity needed to lead the line, Southgate is delighted to have added such a powerful string to his bow.

"It's about covering all of our bases," said the Boro boss, who will not include Mido in his squad for this evening's away game at Wigan, even if his registration is completed in time for the match at the JJB Stadium.

"If you look at the Blackburn squad that played us on Saturday - they had a number of strikers and they all had different attributes. If you're struggling to break a team down at some stage of a game, it's great to be able to bring on a striker who offers a different threat to everybody else on the field. It gives the opposition something else to think about.

"I've been wanting a centre-forward who can hold the ball up, be a physical presence and be a leader on the field. You also need them to emit the confidence that they're going to score goals. Ultimately, of course, they need to score those goals as well, and I think Mido provides all of those attributes. That's why we have the interest in him."

Confirmation of Mido's arrival will inevitably lead to escalating speculation over the future of Ayegbeni Yakubu.

Everton chairman Bill Kenwright made a second inquiry about Yakubu's availability over the weekend, although the Toffees are reluctant to match the £12m valuation Boro have insisted upon before they would even countenance opening talks.

With West Ham, Manchester City and Portsmouth also monitoring developments - the latter strengthened their hand over the weekend when they sold Lomana Lua Lua to Olympiacos for £3m - Boro chairman Steve Gibson could have a difficult decision to make before the transfer window swings shut.

But while Southgate has always accepted that every player has their price, he is also aware that TunÃay's status as a midfielder means that Mido's arrival is merely a return to previous levels of attacking strength.

"We're looking to build the team, not reduce it," said Southgate, who admitted that Mido's £6.8m price tag was "beyond" what he thought Middlesbrough "would be able to manage" so late in the summer.

"We lost Mark Viduka and Malcolm Christie at the end of last season. If we're able to bring in Mido, we'll have added him and Jeremie Aliadiere so, numbers-wise, we'll be back up to full strength in terms of our strikers.

"I've no reason to think anything other than that he (Yakubu) wants to be here. His approach to training and the game on Saturday have been exactly as I would have expected."

Despite losing 2-1 to Blackburn at the weekend, Southgate was pleased with his side's positive, expansive approach.

The Middlesbrough manager has attempted to add pace and energy to his ranks this summer, largely to address an unenviable record that saw the Teessiders win just two Premier League away games last season.

One of those successes came at Wigan in May and, as he prepares to revisit the JJB Stadium tonight, Southgate expects his side to carry a far greater attacking threat than they posed on their travels last term.

"We certainly didn't score enough goals away from home last year," he admitted. "When I looked at our record compared to other teams, defensively I thought we did okay. There were big away games - Man United, Arsenal, Everton - where I thought we defended particularly well. That side of the game was good, but in terms of the number of goals we scored, I thought we let ourselves down away from home.

"I had a look at how we set the team up and the personnel that we had. Pace was definitely a problem - it was something that we didn't have enough of in the side. Consequently, that's why we've done what we've tried to do in the summer."

Southgate is expected to name an unchanged starting XI tonight, with full-back Luke Young continuing to nurse the thigh injury that ruled him out of Saturday's defeat