Alvaro Negredo Key For Middlesbrough

Aitor Karanka hailed Alvaro Negredo as a key player for Middlesbrough after the former Manchester City striker scored on his debut in the 1-1 draw against Stoke. Negredo opened the scoring in the 11th minute, latching onto Gaston Ramirez's knockdown to head home from close range.


Karanka is confident Negredo can rediscover his confidence and become an vital player for Middlesbrough this season. He said “When we signed him, he needed to recover his confidence because we've seen he's a top player. It's not a coincidence when you've won the Premier League with Man City. He needs to recover that confidence but he's a top player he's confident here. The team knows how important he is and he knows how important the team is for him. For that reason he's a really good signing for us.”


Middlesbrough ended a seven year absence from the top-flight against Stoke and Karanka was delighted with his side's performance adding that “It's been a really good day for us, everybody at Middlesbrough has been waiting for this day since we got promoted last May. I'm really pleased and maybe we could have won the game but in the end a point is good. The performance, the attitude and the way we played as a team we showed everybody we are a good side. We put in a good performance and I'm confident for the future because with this team we can do something good.”