Abel Tasman
Well-known member
Peter Davenport. Man united starlet I thought we had acquired. We really bought a dud.
Also I would add Marco Branca. He was deadly and if he was deemed fit enough to play in the premier league we would have had a player on our hands.For me Bolo Zenden. I watched him at Chelsea and. I was worried we had signed a very expensive duffer who would hold back local talent like James Morrison and Downing.
How wrong I was. He was swashbuckling and for me was the glue of that team for a couple of seasons.
I'm going with a player who never played for us for long and rarely gets a mention by Boro fans. Benito Carbone, I though he was superb when we had him on loan, way better than I expected.
Definitely Merson. I know he left under a cloud and also only played 1 season in the champo.
That said 'what a season' . I have never enjoyed watching a Boro player tear up a league with such ease. I swear he was in the Sun team of the weekend every week getting 9/10. I know it was the champo but he made the game look easy.
I didn't realise how good he was. To think we didn't have him in his prime either. I'm sure he got an England call up whist in the championship with us?
I guess Southgate was another. I always thought he was 'decent enough' at villa but didn't realise how good until I watched him in the flesh.
What I mean about Parlour is I really didn't expect him to be so tough, so good at tackling. He could tackle with his whole body, with such force. Opposition players used to bounce off him. I thought we were signing a wide player, a winger, who could dribble and pick a pass and a cross but we actually signed a really good, physical midfield player with an edge about him.