Aliadiere lifted by Alves deal

Aliadiere: Happy with Alves' arrival

Jeremie Aliadiere admits the record signing of Afonso Alves has given the Middlesbrough squad a boost.

Boro splashed out in the region of £12million to snare the Brazilian striker from Heerenveen and Alves made his debut as a substitute in Saturday's 1-0 win over Fulham.

Aliadiere, who scored the game's only goal, is excited by Alves' arrival and is keen to play alongside the prolific forward on a regular basis.

"His arrival gave the whole team a boost," Aliadiere told reporters. "Knowing a great player's arrived at the club has an impact on us all.

Convinced

"It helps convince us we can do better than we're doing. But I'm not worried about my own position, I think I can play alongside him and I think we can complement each other.

"I can play with anyone. He's more of a forward than me, more of a goalscorer than me. I tend to play more out wide and come and get the ball.

"All I'm concentrating on is doing my best and scoring goals. If I do that and we win, I'll be doing my job."

Former Arsenal striker Aliadiere also believes the deal for Alves is a sign of Middlesbrough's ambition to achieve success on Teesside.

Impressed

He added: "It doesn't matter how much the club spent on him, knowing a good player's come is the main thing.

"It just highlights that the manager, chairman and the club will spend big money on big players. It shows ambition.

"He's been a few days with us and we've been very impressed. He looks a good player."