#3 Afonso Alves
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The 6’1 Brazilian striker excelled in the Eredivisie with Heerenveen, bagging an incredible 34 goals in just 31 games in his first season the Dutch top-flight, and bagging a further 11 in just 8 appearances the next season – taking his tally to 45 league goals in 39 appearances; numbers that one usually associate with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo.
His goalscoring form saw Middlesbrough splash the cash for him midway through the 2007-08 season in a bid to escape the relegation scrap. He would score a brace in a 2-2 draw with Manchester United and a hat-trick in the infamous 8-1 win over Manchester City by the end of the season, but that’s as good as it got for the Brazilian.
He would only score four goals in 31 appearances for the club the next season as Middlesbrough were relegated to the Championship, taking his tally to a miserly 10 in 42 appearances. What made this all the more shocking was the fact that he was on nearly £50000 a week.
Relegation saw him being offloaded to Qatari side Al Sadd, and he spent the rest of his career in the Qatari league before eventually retiring from the game in 2015.
