JELLE VOSSEN has warned Championship defences he is fit and raring to go in a Middlesbrough shirt this weekend after spending his first ten days on Teesside.

The Belgium striker missed four of Genk’s opening matches in the Pro-League because of the uncertainty surrounding his future and his last competitive outing was in the draw with Kortrikj on August 16.

Vossen has been putting the work in on the training ground during the international break to ensure he is in the ideal shape to give his Middlesbrough career the perfect start at Huddersfield this Saturday.

He scored in a training match in front of 2,000 fans at the Riverside Stadium last Friday and he is looking forward to getting going for real following his season-long loan move from Genk on transfer deadline day.

“We have had two weeks to get in to shape for the first game together,” said Vossen. “I have not played too many games with Genk, so we have had this time to work very hard and be ready.

“I am a team player - the team is the most important thing – so I don’t like to talk too much about myself. I leave that to other people. But I am looking forward to my first game, my first win and my first goal. I have to be ready and I feel I will be.”

Given that it has taken Middlesbrough the best part of 18 months to lure Vossen to the North-East from Genk, there is much excitement and anticipation about his debut among supporters.

Approaching 3,000 fans could make the trip to the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday, when Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka must decide how to accommodate the 25-year-old, Spanish striker Kike as well as Patrick Bamford and Lee Tomlin.

And Vossen has been convinced by the plans Karanka has, even if he was reluctant to divulge what the former Real Madrid coach said to persuade him to join his Middlesbrough revolution.

He said: “I won’t say everything but he explained a bit about the project, the way he wants to play, how he wants to see me playing. There were some basics that he will try to do, but once you are on the field you also need to play your own game. As well working your function in the team, you know you have to decide many things by yourself. That’s what I will try to do and hopefully it will work for me.”

Despite an impressive goals return at Genk, where he scored 49 goals in 102 league starts, he has been unable to force his way back in to the international fold since appearing against Turkey in June 2011. That has largely been down to the emergence of the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Christian Benteke as much as anything else, but he admits playing for his country is still in his thinking.

The 12-time international, who scored against Chelsea in the Champions League a few months after his last cap, said: “The Belgium players have interested other clubs because of the national team’s results and I’m happy to be part of that generation. Hopefully I can contribute by playing well like some of the other Belgium players in England.

“I don’t know if I will be back in the national team, of course I would like to. My last game for the national team was a while ago now. I just have to do my best here at Middlesbrough and see. I want to get some great results and then we will see about the next step.

“I never try to say how many goals I want to score in a season. I just look short term. It’s about the next game. That’s what it is about at the moment for me and whatever happens will happen.”

* Middlesbrough have around 1,400 tickets remaining for the Capital One Cup tie at Anfield against Liverpool. Any tickets still available will go on general sale this morning from 9.30am.