MANAGER Gareth Southgate finally brought an end to his striker search when Mido completed his move to Middlesbrough.

The £6m signing from Tottenham Hotspur will join the squad that head to Craven Cottage today, after the 24-year-old signed a four-contract.

Mido agreed to the move last week but the deal was held up while the club waited for his work permit - that arrived yesterday while the Middlesbrough manager was conducting his pre-match preview ahead of the trip to Fulham.

Southgate says he was delighted to finally bring an end to his striker search and admits he now has a dilemma ahead of his clash with Lawrie Sanchez's side - does he start with his latest recruit or does he bring him off the bench?

Given Boro's toothless showing at Wigan on Wednesday night the Middlesbrough boss must surely be tempted to name Mido in his first XI. But given the Egypt international has not had any pre-season training or matches, he may have to be content with a place among the Boro substitutes.

"Having spent the time talking to him and seeing him on the training field I know he will have a big impact," admitted Southgate, with the capture bringing his summer spending up to £18m.

"He has character and leadership qualities. He's very good at getting hold of the ball. He is technically gifted, and when you've got one of the best crossers of the ball in the league in Stewart Downing, you want someone like Mido who can head the ball. They are the sort of attributes you look at.

"I brought Jeremie (Aliadiere), who gives us pace, and Mido gives us something different.

"When I met him I understood his hunger and desire to play football and score goals. He has a real centre forward's mentality in that he's single minded.

"His goalscoring record two seasons ago was fantastic so I'm sure he was disappointed not to get more of a chance last year. And with Spurs signing Darren Bent (and Dimitar Berbatov last year) he became available."

Middlesbrough will be Mido's eighth club in less than eight years, which suggests the Egyptian arrives at the Riverside with more baggage than an express train. Southgate disagrees with this suggestion.

The Boro boss says is convinced the former Ajax and Roma striker is finally ready to settle, and does not consider it a gamble or fear his new signing will cause him any problems.

"I had read he had had eight clubs and I was keen to find out why," said Southgate. "Until you sit down with someone then you don't know what happened.

"The first three clubs he had were career progressions. He went to Belgium when he was 16 and was sold to a bigger club the year after. He went on to Ajax, where he admits to falling out with manager Ronald Koeman, which he regrets.

"He did very well at Marseilles alongside Didier Drogba. They moved him to Roma and the coach was sacked within a fortnight of him getting there - I hope that does not happen here. And then moved to Tottenham.

"He plays with a swagger and with a bit of style and I think he will be a crowd favourite with his ball skills and technique. He travelled to the (Wigan) game and came into the dressing room before and wished everyone luck and was disappointed as anyone that we didn't get the result we wanted. That tells me about his commitment."

Middlesbrough's David Wheater, Andrew Taylor and Adam Johnson were all named in England's Under-21 squad to face Romania at Ashton Gate next Tuesday.