Can a new Brazilian brighten the mood in one corner of the struggling North East of England?
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Afonso Alves
Middlesbrough fans must have really feared the worst for this season after selling two of their only half decent players over the summer in Yakubu and Mark Viduka and signing Tottenham's renegade pie muncher Mido and Arsenal's perpetually loaned out "striker" Jeremie Aliadiere as replacements. For a rapidly dwindling Riverside Stadium faithful it must have been the final straw after seasons of borefest after borefest from ex-England incumbent Steve McLaren and the woefully out of his depth (but thoroughly nice bloke) Gareth Southgate.
Enter stage left: Afonso Alves - A New Hope. Boro may have splashed £12m on the Brazilian striker who has been scoring for fun in Holland's Eredivisie and there may still be the slight worry of AZ Alkmaar's claim to have already signed the player from Heerenveen but that shouldn't put the Boro fans off from dreaming of Alves turning into another Juninho (on his first time on Teeside). God knows they need some hope to cling on to this season.
Enter stage left: Afonso Alves - A New Hope. Boro may have splashed £12m on the Brazilian striker who has been scoring for fun in Holland's Eredivisie and there may still be the slight worry of AZ Alkmaar's claim to have already signed the player from Heerenveen but that shouldn't put the Boro fans off from dreaming of Alves turning into another Juninho (on his first time on Teeside). God knows they need some hope to cling on to this season.
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