Alfonso Alves got up early this morning to queue successfully for his Visa. He’s now due on Teesside to meet up with his new teammates tomorrow. Boro are so excited about the prospect they’ve wheeled out the usual references to Brazil nuts and Sambas but can Alves light up the Riverside and hand us fantasy managers a much needed alternative up front? Let’s have a closer look at his fantasy visa…

Alves commanded a fee of around £12 million – Boro’s record deal. A hefty wedge but then Alves appears to have the skill to pay that particular bill. He’s the current player of the year in Holland, having hit 34 goals in 31 games for SC Heerenveen in the 2006-07 season. He followed that up this season with 11 goals in 7 games. On paper at least then, this fella is no Dong Gook Lee.

Initially a defender, Alves started his career started off in his native Brazil, at Atlético Mineiro where he spent five years but struggled to get a game. He joined Swedish club Örgryte in 2002 at the age of 21 and went on to hit 23 goals in 40 starts. That attracted the attentions of Malmo and in 2004 and signed up and duly went on to score 29 goals in 55 games for them, grabbing the Swedish title in the process. After finishing fifth the season after, Alves then moved to Holland to join Heerenveen for £3 million and went on to top the European goalscoring charts in the 2006-07 season with 34 goals, including 7 goals in a single match against poor old SE Heracles.

You can see all those goals in the YouTube footage below, although if you’re a Premiership defender you probably want to skip that bit. The footage clearly demonstrates the kind of technique, movement and deadly finishing that Boro have been craving for months. It’s also noticable that he scores goals of all kinds, tap-ins, composed finishes, headers, free-kicks. It certainly bodes well for Boro fans. Physically he stands 6ft 1 but is nippy and direct. He also fancies himself somewhat from free-kicks, justifiably judging by the footage – just check out goals 5, 22 and particularly, goal number 31 which just seems an unfeasible dead ball strike.

Indeed, his former coach at Heerenveen, Gert Verbeek, has no doubt of his talents in that department.

“Afonso has phenomenal qualities. The way he scores from free-kicks is not something you see every day. He can decide a match with an individual action,” he remarked after another Alvez set-piece strike.

Despite that particular ability, Alves singles out his technique and movement as his strong suit and he’s got a trick up his sleeve in this area. Interestingly, he claims to adopt an lazy style of play in order to lull defenders into a false sense of security.

“Defenders don’t know how to defend me,”said Alves. “I look like I’m lazy – just like Romario – but it’s not the truth”, he remarked on the eve of his international debut in a friendly against England.

“I’m playing a game with them. It’s a tactical thing. They are not looking at me and, by the time they do, it is too late. I’m suddenly there.” Can you see Titus Bramble falling for that old trick? Don’t answer that.

It’s a serious point though – just how Alves gets on against Premiership defenders remains to be seen. His recent goal record may well be peerless in Europe but then Alves himself acknowledges that Dutch football almost allowed him such a strike rate.

“Because of the way of playing in Holland, a striker has a lot of space to make his goals,” remarked the Brazilian in an earlier interview.

Alves won’t get space in the Premiership – he’s likely to be a marked man from the off and certainly won’t the time evident from the YouTube footage to slot home finishes. Alves remarks himself that he found the more defensive Swedish football far more of a challenge in goalscoring terms, so Boro fans can’t expect their new striker to continue his goal-a-game record from his days in the Dutch league.

Having said that, he should certainly get service at the Riverside. Boro will provide him with plenty of quality delivery from the likes of Downing and Arca. Downing in particular should flourish in terms of assists if Alves hits the ground running. What Downing gains in that area however, he’s likely to lose in terms of goals – don’t expect him to get near too many free-kicks and penalties now Alves is in town. Still, Downing has needed to be playing week-in week-out a centre-forward to ignite his own season and now he has one; no offence to Mido intended.

Indeed, Southgate is quick to point out that Alves provides exactly the type of player they’ve been looking for all season.

“Afonso brings us something different in that he is a goalscorer who does much of his best work inside the box,” remarked the Boro boss on sealing the deal.

With his new man installed up front, it’s likely to create options for plenty of rotation with Aliadiere and Mido potential partners in a 4-4-2. A 4-3-3 is also a possibility – a system which could suit Tuncay and Downing either side of Alves.

As always with new arrivals to the Premiership, even those with big reputations and impressive scoring records, caution is the best policy for fantasy managers. Alves could well make his debut for Boro against Fulham, but that does look unlikely. He hasn’t played for Heerenveen since requesting a move a month ago, hardly the preparation he needs to be thrust into a Premiership debut against a side fighting for survival. Wednesday’s expected unveiling will doubtless see Alvez in the Boro red, but that could be the only glimpse that Boro fans get of him in their colours this week. They shouldn’t let the bright Samba lights dazzle them just yet then, and neither should fantasy managers.

However, in a season dominated by Ronaldo and, increasingly, Adebayor – the fantasy manager chasing the mini-league pack desperately needs new talent to offer options, to shake things up. Alves certainly has the potential to do that and his impact on the Boro side, as well as Premiership defences, will be under my microscope in the coming weeks.

I’ll end this report with a song, direct from the terraces, courtesy of one of several Alves fansites out there.

“You are my Alves, Afonso Alves You make me happy, when skies are grey, cause when it’s pouring, you just keep on scoring O, please don’t take, my Alves away!”

God knows if that’s his official chant but it sounds depressingly plausible. It’s not yet certain that Alvez will hear that 34 times in 31 games in Teesside, but he can at least put his money on grey skies and pouring rain. Welcome to England Alfonso.