Eye-brow raising Middlesbrough transfer for ex-Man Utd man was a coup that worked: View | OneFootball

Middlesbrough's promotion from the Championship in 2016 brought joy to Teeside in what was a first Premier League campaign at the Riverside Stadium for seven years - but nobody could have predicted who they were to sign that summer.

Boro enjoyed a fruitful spell under Aitor Karanka in the 2015/16 season, finishing runners-up to Burnley and securing promotion on the last day of the season in a straight shoot-out with Brighton.

The likes of Christhian Stuani, Ben Gibson, Gaston Ramirez and more all played a huge part in firing Boro over the line, though fans knew that incomings were needed if they were to have a strong go at staying in the Premier League under the Spaniard.

Rumours were abound throughout the window, and fans will have been glued to news outlets as the rumours flooded in thick and fast. But there is one that had not just Middlesbrough supporters mesmorised, but indeed the whole world - with the capture of Victor Valdes from Manchester United. And whilst they went down with him in net, the former Barcelona man proved to be an inspired signing.

Why Victor Valdes was a signing that worked for Middlesbrough

Having been a major part of the Barcelona side that revolutionised football under Pep Guardiola, Valdes was one of the first 'sweeper keeper' types in the world alongside Manuel Neuer and his effectiveness in that team was profound.

At Middlesbrough, Valdes will have known that he would find the challenge much more difficult.

A team that dominated world football will have seen much less action than a plucky side who were set to beat the odds and stay in the top-flight; and as we know, ultimately Boro weren't successful in their bid to stay up.

But Valdes was undoubtedly one of the best performers in the side. Featuring in 28 of their Premier League games, he excelled in what was a tough season. 8 clean sheets in 28 games is a respectable tally for a new team coming up, averaging one clean sheet in less than every four games - but it was a run of 16 games without a goal that saw Boro's fate sealed.

In terms of the table, Boro had the best defence in the bottom half with just 53 goals conceded - a vastly better tally than the likes of Hull, who conceded 80, and even West Ham and title defenders Leicester City, who conceded 64 and 63 goals respectively.

Why Middlesbrough went down despite having Victor Valdes

Whilst the defence was good, Middlesbrough only scored 27 goals all season. That is a generally poor tally for any team to have graced the Premier League, and it did mark the worst firepower in the division, despite signing Alvaro Negredo up front.

A 0-0 draw with Burnley proved to be Valdes' last game, and it practically relegated the Teeside outfit, who massively needed a result to close the gap on Hull.

Against a fellow relegation side, it wasn't good enough. But on the whole, that of course isn't a slight against Valdes; he did his end of the deal by commanding the best defence in the bottom half.

It was a bold strategy, that to an extent paid off when looking at the numbers, but we may never see the likes again. Who knows - perhaps a promoted side in a few years time will be taking a look at Ederson...