How Middlesbrough banked cool £1.4m profit with Real Madrid transfer Christian Karembeu | OneFootball

The New Caledonian-born midfielder won two Champions League titles with Los Blancos

Middlesbrough's shrewd summer signing in the year 2000 paid off handsomely when they sold Champions League-winning midfielder Christian Karembeu to Greek champions Olympiacos one year later.

The New Caledonian-born midfielder won two Champions League titles with Los Blancos in 1998 and 2000.

Karembeu's £2.1m arrival at the Riverside was part of an ambitious recruitment drive by then-manager Bryan Robson - who was determined to strengthen his squad with proven quality.

The French international, who boasted World Cup and European Championship medals alongside his Champions League successes, was certainly expected to bring a lot of star quality to the North East.

Challenging debut season at Boro for Christian Karembeu

The 2000/01 season proved to be anything but straightforward for both Karembeu and Middlesbrough.

Despite his obvious pedigree, the midfielder struggled initially to adapt to the physicality of Premier League football. Boro had a nightmare start to the season that saw them languishing at the foot of the table by December.

To get to that point, the club had gone through a losing streak of eight in nine games under Robson, and Karembeu spoke about his worst performance against Newcastle in an interview.

"I worked myself up, didn't sleep a wink the night before and was awful on the day," Karembeu told Dominic Fifield of The Guardian.

"It was a mental thing... when you kept losing every week you steadily forget what it is you are actually good at," he added.

It was only after former England boss Terry Venables was appointed as joint manager alongside Robson that things improved, but the Frenchman gradually grew better as the season progressed.

Karembeu ended up scoring what proved to be a vital equaliser against Bradford City, and then followed that up with another goal on the final day of the season against West Ham to help Boro stay up.

Middlesbrough managed to make a nice profit on Christian Karembeu

Despite showing his class towards the end of the 00/01 season, Karembeu's time on Teesside was destined to be brief, and the arrival of Steve McClaren as manager coincided with the midfielder's decision to seek pastures new.

Greek outfit Olympiacos had been tracking Karembeu through the summer of 2001 and eventually agreed a £3.5m fee with Middlesbrough for his services.

While he finished the campaign as something of a cult hero among fans for his goals late-on in the season, his overall contribution of four goals in 32 appearances wasn't exactly irreplaceable.

Christian Karembeu's time on Teesside was short but sweet

Karembeu will surely be fondly remembered by Middlesbrough supporters - and Steve Gibson's willingness to fork out £2.1m for a Champions League winner showed he was serious about competing at the highest level.

In the following years, after the player moved on, McClaren ultimately rebuilt Boro into a squad that would win the League Cup in 2004 - and reach the UEFA Cup final two years later.