The Middlesborough record signing was linked with both Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Both clubs will be thanking their stars they had a lucky escape, the Teeside club, not so.
It is no wonder strikers from Holland’s Eredivisie are treated with scepticism, especially when prolific goal records are waved in the faces of managers and fans.
On one side there is Romario, 98 goals in 109 games for PSV, and Ronaldo, 42 in 46. Both went onto become legends of the modern day footballing era.
Then there are others, such as Mateja Kezman, who scored an incredible 105 goals in 122 games, yet the Serbian could only score four times for Chelsea, and now plays his football in China.
Afonso Alves could have gone either way, and for Middlesborough it was seen as a gamble worth taking. Unfortunately for manager Gareth Southgate, Alves was more Kezman than Ronaldo.
You almost can’t blame the the club for taking a chance, for Alves’ goalscoring record was highly impressive.
Playing for lowly Heerenveen, his goals per game ratio was astounding, netting 47 times in 39 matches. This included seven in one game, in a 9-0 victory over Heracles, a performance which garnered Alves worldwide attention.
It was this which set off a transfer chase, with Manchester City at one point reported to have asked the Dutch club to name their price, and Tottenham also linked.
For sure, Europe’s giants must have all scouted him at one stage, and decided not to spend their money, so it fell to Middlesborough, who were battling to stay in the Premier League, to take the plunge.
As gambles go, it was a professionally fatal one for Gareth Southgate’s managerial career, with the manager staking his reputation on Alves, paying £12.7 million for the Brazilian.
Alves was signed in the closing days of the January transfer window in 2008, and had a slow first few months before ending the season very well. He scored twice against Manchester United in a 2-2 draw, and bagged a hat-trick in an 8-1 win against Manchester City, which was Sven Goran Eriksson’s last game as manager. In all he had six in 11 games, which was a more than creditable record to begin with.
It was the next season though that was Alves and Middlesborough’s downfall, scoring just four times in 31 Premier League games. It was desperate form for a player who had scored more goals than he had played games for previous club Heerenveen.
His woeful contribution saw Middlesborough slip into the relegation zone, and fall into the Championship.
The club could not sustain his wages at that level and sold him to Qatari club Al Sadd for £7 million. Is he still there now?
No, he only scored twice for the club in 12 games, a desperate showing considering the money the side invested in him, and he was loaned and then sold to league rivals Al-Rayyan.
To his credit, and albeit at a far less competitive record than the Premier League, Alves picked up his form, scoring 24 times in 31 appearances, and winning the domestic cup. He is still at the club, and has had to overcome a serious knee injury, but his career is on a downwards slope, seemingly irreversible, at only 31.
He was capped for Brazil eight times, featuring against England in a 2007 friendly, but such days will remain a distant memory.
It is a shame for the many fans who saw his scoring record in Holland and hoped he would go onto become one of the game’s top strikers. But it is an even bigger shame for Middlesborough and their fans.
He will long be remembered as one of the most expensive flops in Premier League history, and along with Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres, be pointed out as another warning to clubs looking to splash the cash in January.
Did you want your club to sign Alves? Where did it all go wrong for him?
image: © Doha Stadium Plus
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