MIDDLESBROUGH have already got Diego Maradona’s silky skills driving them forward in the promotion race and now Adam Clayton thinks there are hints of Thomas Muller tearing up the Championship.

Earlier this season Albert Adomah revealed Diego Fabbrini had been nicknamed Maradona for his footwork and now Clayton has likened Cristhian Stuani's style to that of Bayern Munich forward Muller.

Uruguayan Stuani took his tally of goals to seven since his £3.6m move from Spanish side Espanyol with a brace in Tuesday night’s 3-1 over Brentford at the Riverside Stadium.

His goal return is made the more impressive by the fact he tends to line up on the right and head coach Aitor Karanka has already suggested he could end up with more than the 19 scored by Patrick Bamford last season.

Clayton is happy to agree with his boss after witnessing how quickly Stuani has adapted to life on Teesside. The midfielder said: “He is a top player who comes alive in the box. He reminds me a little bit of Muller. He is a bit unorthodox but everything he does is crisp.

“He is an international for a very good nation so you can’t question his calibre as a player. You don’t play for Uruguay or Middlesbrough without being a good player.

“He comes in off that right and he rarely makes mistakes. He might not go past players but in the box he is deadly. He is a goalscorer, if he can get 20 goals we will be happy. We want our main strikers David Nugent and Kike to get 15/20, so Stuani’s goals can only help us.”

Clayton has explained his own part in Stuani’s impressive start at the Riverside – even if he knew very little about it at the time.

“We have a little thing where I have to tap his elbow. Apparently it’s good luck, I don’t know why,” said Clayton. “I hit his elbow with a plate on his first day and he scored two at Oldham so I have had to do it ever since. He comes up pointing his elbow at me ... if he keeps hitting the back of the net I will keep hitting his elbow.

“The plate was just a bit of banter. When someone is getting their dinner, if you bang someone on the elbow with a plate it hurts. I did that to him on the first day, not knowing if he would smack me or what.

“He turned around to me and said good luck. We worked out through Fabbrini that it’s good luck in Uruguay to tap someone on the elbow. Every time we have a game I crack him on the elbow. I will keep doing it, it seems to work!”

A lot of the shine was taken off Stuani’s first two goals at the Riverside by the explosive return to action of Albert Adomah against Brentford.

Adomah teed up Stuani’s second with a fine cross and then the Ghana winger added his own goal 12 minutes from time to complete the win and he celebrated by running over to Karanka for a hug.

It was the player’s attempt to draw a line under an unsettling few weeks in which he handed in a transfer request after a dressing room bust up with the head coach following the defeat to Bristol City on August 22.

Clayton said: “It was only a little incident which I reckon I have seen 300 times in my time playing football. It got blown up a bit out of proportion but sense has been found.

“Albert is back in the team and he is a top player at this level. He is another player for the manager to pick from to get us a win on a Saturday or Tuesday like everyone else. I think everyone could see that we are all pulling in the same direction.”

He added: “Albert is a massive part of this team. He was a massive part of it last year. We are grown men and people fall out and have arguments.

“In front of everyone, that was proved to be in the past. Everyone at this club is trying to get in the Premier League, if we can keep that togetherness with that hunger and desire we will not be far off.”