Day when Middlesbrough captured most sought-after player in the world

The player in question being the inimitable Osvaldo Giroldo Júnior. Juninho, in short. AKA The Little Fella, as he is commonly referred to by all supporters of Middlesbrough FC. It was November 4, 1995, when the Sao Paulo native, who rebuffed interest from Arsenal to join Bryan Robson’s ‘Riverside Revolution’, strode out for the first time for Boro against Yorkshire opposition in visiting Leeds United. The build-up had been considerable after Boro pulled off a truly audacious coup to land one of the most coveted young stars in world football for £4.75m. No less than the Brazilian No 10, who had first caught the eye of Robson during his time as England coach under Terry Venables when the diminutive Brazilian scored for his nation during their 3-1 Umbro Trophy win over at Wembley in June. There was fever in one corner of the north-east as Juninho was unveiled amid a Samba party at the Riverside, with banners hanging from bridges and countless people throwing ‘sickies’ at work to head across to his first public introduction after initially flying into Teesside Airport where he was besieged by photographers. His first outing duly arrived on an autumnal Saturday afternoon against Leeds, with an array of merchandise coloured in the yellow and green of Brazil and red and white of Boro hastily manufactured and quickly doing the rounds among unofficial sellers. You could even purchase a ‘Juninho Burger’ from certain fast-food outlets. Juninho adhered to the script on a day which the gifted play-maker will recall forever and a day along with the rest of Teesside. It did not take him long to make his mark with a perfectly-weighted throughball slipped into the path of Jan-Age Fjortoft, who fired Boro ahead after 11 minutes in front of the South Stand. Another sublime pass played Fjortoft in a second time, but his strike was ruled out for offside before Juninho fired just over. Fears that the pint-sized play-maker might struggle to adapt to the hurly-burly of England’s top-flight were allayed when the flyweight was yellow-carded for an industrial challenge on cruiserweight Tony Yeboah in the second half. That simply added to Juninho’s mystique. He could look after himself as well... A leveller from Brian Deane, later to join the Teessiders, ensured the points were shared at the Riverside, but all the talk after the match among home supporters centred on one subject. The little maestro. Boro had already been making waves in the transfer market, more especially following the £5.25m signing of Nick Barmby in the summer of 1995, which obliterated their transfer record. But the capture of Juninho, Brazil’s reigning Footballer of the Year, took things to a whole different level with the deal taking Robson’s spending past the £10m mark for the season. Perhaps understandably, it entailed a fair bit of work, with Robson and Boro chief executive Keith Lamb at the centre of it. The persistence paid off, despite rival interest from the Gunners, Inter Milan and Bobby Robson’s Porto. Middlesbrough FC were starting to resonate in world footballing circles for the first time. On announcing the signing, Robson said: “It has taken a long time to clinch the deal, but it has been well worthwhile. It’s a big step for Juninho, but I’m confident he’ll be a big success over here.” Lamb, who had accompanied Robson to South America in a bid to entice Juninho, said: “It is a measure of Middlesbrough’s ambition that we have signed the most sought-after player in the world. “We have beaten all the top Premiership clubs and several big European clubs to his signature. The negotiations between the two clubs were long and drawn out, but Juninho always wanted to come to Middlesbrough. “The big challenge was persuading Sao Paulo to sell him and I am delighted we have been successful.” Juninho’s on-pitch love affair began against Leeds and it was against the West Yorkshire outfit that the Brazilian endured his most bitter memory in the red and white shirt of Boro. That was at Elland Road in May, 1997, when the Teessiders suffered the ignominy of relegation despite reaching both domestic cup finals and exhilarating many with their attacking football and joie de vivre, most spectacularly manifested by Juninho, with Emerson and Fabrizio Ravanelli playing supporting roles. While many of Boro’s foreign legion quickly headed for the dressing room following that 1-1 draw with a three-point deduction for the failure to fulfil a fixture at Blackburn in the winter ultimately proving fateful, the distraught Juninho sat helplessly on the turf at the final whistle. He was the last Boro player to rise from the floor and had to wipe away his tears. That 1996-97 campaign saw Juninho light up the top flight alongside another blessed footballing artist in Gianfranco Zola. But with relegation brought the realisation that he would have to head for pastures new, with Atletico Madrid securing his services for £13m. A broken fibula denied him the chance of playing with Brazil in the 1998 World Cup and he was afforded a sentimental return to Teesside in 1999-2000 when he joined on loan, scoring five goals in 34 appearances after falling out of favour in Spain. Juninho admitted that moving back to Boro was a mistake, the timing being more apposite when he joined for a third time in a permanent switch for £3.8m in the summer of 2002 – fresh from helping Brazil win the World Cup in Japan. Fate was to play a cruel hand with Juninho damaging cruciate ligaments in pre-season but it was in the following campaign in 2003-04 that the Brazilian was afforded the champagne moment of his time on Teesside. It came when he helped Boro lift the first piece of silverware in their history in the Carling Cup final against Bolton Wanderers at Cardiff in February, 2004 – with the play-maker being the only man in Steve McClaren’s side who had played in both the 1997 League and FA Cup final defeats. Few, aside from Bolton supporters, would have begrudged Juninho his moment. It was fitting that the player who did so much to put Boro on the footballing map was part of the club’s finest hour. Despite his dream of playing for the club in Europe, Juninho joined Celtic in the summer of 2004, with his final game for Boro coming against Aston Villa at home on April 24, 2004. But what memories Juninho had given to Teesside...