MIDDLESBROUGH boss Steve McClaren has hailed the footballing "arrogance" of new signing Fabio Rochemback, labelling his debut as "the best he's ever seen".

The Brazilian was an instant hit with the Boro fans and his new manager in the 2-1 win over Arsenal, with his hold up play and skill adding a new dimension to the Teessiders' midfield.

And according to McClaren, Rochemback took control of the game in the second half against one of Premiership's top-three.

McClaren said: "We all struggled at the start but got better, boost was the goal and there as more belief in the second half and I think he took over the game then.

"He showed what he is capable of. He wants to run a football match and wants the ball all the time and we have to learn that we have to give him the ball all the time.

"He has that arrogance and I don't think he gave the ball away."

McClaren is delighted that his persistence with Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon paid off in his long pursuit of a player who starred against the Teessiders and Newcastle United in last season's UEFA Cup.

The Boro boss even likened his impact to that of Juninho when he arrived at the Riverside in a blaze of publicity in 1995

McClaren said: "We played against him three times, watched him three times against Newcastle and saw him on numerous other occasions. We have really done our homework on this player.

"You can see as a player he has the arrogance, the stature and he has already made his mark on the squad.

"He had the best debut I have seen from a player and he can get better, I have seen him play better. He will be a crowd favourite who can get us playing.

"It doesn't matter if he is marked. It was like a throw-back to when Juninho came he wanted the ball with a six foot defender right up him.

"He doesn't speak English but we have Doriva, Abel (Xavier) and people who speak Spanish so it is no problem to him, he is a football player and he is very intelligent.

"The best thing I did in the fortnight was signing him because it gave a lift to the rest of the players who needed it after the Charlton game."

McClaren is an avid user of the Prozone computer system, which is designed to measure individual player performances, and those statistics persuaded him Rochemback could do it in the Premiership.

McClaren said: "When you sign a foreign player it is difficult to know whether they will adapt to the Premiership, yes he played against us but could he match players in the Premiership?

"So with the stats on all players we could prepare and that was a great advantage to have that information we knew he could play in the Premier League."

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