Spanish striker gave Middlesbrough supporters Viduka, Hasselbaink and Yakubu-esque memories: View | OneFootball

The days of top-class strikers like Viduka, Hasselbaink and Yakubu had long gone from the Riverside come 2016. Alvaro Negredo changed that.

Certain players invoke memories of those who'd worn the shirt before them, and the arrival of former Manchester City striker Alvaro Negredo in 2016 did precisely that for Middlesbrough fans.

Boro had already made a number of eye-catching signings in the summer of 2016, as the club made preparations for their return to Premier League football.

Highly-rated Ajax winger Viktor Fischer, Atalanta midfielder Marten de Roon, and one of the most decorated goalkeepers to have played the game, Victor Valdes, all made moves to the Riverside Stadium.

Football fans across the land were left stunned at the apparent quality of business Aitor Karanka and his staff had been able to pull off so far, so when 'The Beast' was signed on a season-long loan from Valencia, many were forecasting a strong season back in the top-flight for the Teessiders.

However, forecasts aren't always correct. A once promising season wandered well and truly off course in the second half of the season, with Boro being relegated back to the Championship. But that wasn't through the fault of their renowned centre-forward.

Football League World takes a look back at Negredo's time on Teesside, how he shone when many would've forgiven him had he not, and how he left a legacy in the North East as one of Boro's best strikers of many a year.

Negredo was still able to produce with little to no service

Middlesbrough had won promotion to the Premier League the previous season by building an incredibly strong defensive foundation, as they conceded a league-lowest 31 goals.

Karanka was, for the most part, able to take that defensive structure into the top-flight too, as Boro conceded 53 goals on their way to a 19th-placed finish.

That may sound a lot, but when you consider it was only nine more than Arsenal's 44, 11 more than Liverpool's 42, and was less than the likes of Bournemouth, West Ham, Leicester, Stoke and Crystal Palace, it was actually a very impressive showing.

One that suggested Middlesbrough had the credentials to avoid relegation that season had they scored enough goals at the other end, but by netting a league-lowest 27 goals, they gave themselves next to no realistic chance.

Negredo scored nine of those goals that season, and in a clear indication of the lack of service he received throughout the campaign, the former Manchester City forward also led the team in assists with four.

The absence of creativity proved fatal to Karanka's side, with Gaston Ramirez, Stewart Downing and Viktor Fischer all only grabbing three assists each, with the latter suffering an injury-afflicted campaign that stole away his chance to settle into the team.

Adama Traore wasn't going to show his best in a Middlesbrough shirt until the following season, as his raw wing-play in hindsight only served to further whittle away at the number of goalscoring opportunities created, often running down blind alleys and passing up promising positions as a result.

But, when those rare chances did come Negredo's way, he often dispatched them in emphatic fashion, flashing the ability that had seen him score 23 goals for Manchester City in the 2013/14 season.

Negredo was a flashback to days when top-class strikers roamed the Riverside

In the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, Middlesbrough fans had been blessed with some truly outstanding, and in some cases, legitimately world-class strikers representing their football club.

Fabrizio Ravanelli, Brian Deane, Alen Boksic, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Yakubu were just some of the centre-forwards who called the Riverside Stadium their home across that period.

Champions League winners, champions from across Europe's best domestic leagues, Premier League golden boot winners; Teesside was the hunting ground for so many top-class forwards in the years before Negredo arrived.

Since those glory days in the sun which saw the club lift the Carling Cup in 2004, whilst reaching the UEFA Cup final in 2006, players of that ilk had started to become a distant memory for Boro supporters.

The likes of Jeremie Aliadiere, Tuncay, Mido, Afonso Alves were all signed in the hope of picking up the baton, whilst later the likes of Scott McDonald, Patrick Bamford and Kike all scored a respectable number of goals, but none of them got particularly close to eliciting that same feeling of watching those aforementioned stars.

Negredo changed that, even if it was only for a season. The imposing striker had that same bullying centre-back presence of Viduka, whilst at the same time, oozed class with the ball at his feet.

Outstanding at bringing others into play, an arsenal of all types of goals and finishes, whether that be acrobatic volleys, towering headers or sublime alterations of his body to enable him to lash the ball into the net, Negredo had everything.

It doesn't serve well for Middlesbrough fans to stew over how many goals he might have scored had better service had been placed around him, but it's one that can't be helped.

Had they done so, Boro's story could well have had a better ending, and who knows, Negredo may well have continued to score goals on Teesside for years to come.