But having recovered from back and hamstring injuries which limited him to just 10 minutes of football between Boxing Day and the end of last season, Viduka has already served a reminder of his threat.

His two goals in the 3-0 Barclays Premiership win at Birmingham three weeks ago announced his return in style, and ahead of tonight’s UEFA Cup first-round clash with Greek side Skoda Xanthi, McClaren is looking for more of the same.

“He is one of the top strikers in the Premier League,” said McClaren.

“He has proven that over recent years and he wants to prove it again. It is a World Cup year.

“The pleasing thing for me was we ould put him on the bench and we could play the likes of (Aiyegbeni) Yakubu and (Massimo) Maccarone and Adam Johnson and still come out with a result against Arsenal.

“It proves what a good squad we have got and we can get consistent results.

“Mark Viduka is somebody who I want in my team week in, week out as our main striker, but with three games a week, sometimes that is not possible.”

The rejuvenated Maccarone and £7.5million summer signing Yakubu were the scorers against Arsenal at the weekend, and McClaren will hope for more of the same from whichever frontmen he fields against Ioannis Matzourakis’ side at the Riverside Stadium.

Maccarone, the club’s record signing at £8.15m (€12.1m), might have left Teesside during the summer had Italian side Siena, with whom he spent part of last season on loan, come up with an acceptable offer.

But McClaren insists he has not been surprised by the Italian’s form.

“I haven’t, I saw it at the end of last season when I watched him play for Siena,” he said.

“He looked different, more determined, looked as if he had matured.

“He has come back here and proved that to be right. Not many fans had seen him and we put him on for the last 20 minutes in a pre-season friendly, and the reaction from the crowd was excellent.

“That proves he had something, he had a rapport with the crowd even before he left, and certainly after Saturday he has become a favourite again.”

Boro head into tonight’s game with their focus on qualification for the group stage of the competition, but with one eye on Sunday’s league trip to Wigan.

Boro won only one of the eight domestic fixtures they played in the immediate aftermath of European games last season – the 3-0 victory over Aston Villa on December 18 – and that record proved costly.

“We learnt a lot last season about three games in a week,” McClaren admitted.

“Coming back from Europe, we only won one in 10, so we learnt a lot from that.”

Boro will be without the ineligible Fabio Rochemback and seven other first-team squad members through injury, although midfielder James Morrison is likely to return after illness.