BRAD GUZAN will make his first appearance in a Middlesbrough shirt this afternoon – back at his former home of Villa Park.

Guzan signed a two-year deal to complete a free transfer to the Teessiders yesterday morning, and will hope to challenge Victor Valdes and Dimi Konstantopoulos for the goalkeeping spot in Boro’s first-choice starting line-up next season.

He has three pre-season games in which to highlight his qualities, with the first pitting Boro against his former employers, Aston Villa, this afternoon.

Provided there are no problems with his international registration, he will be part of the squad that travels to Villa Park, and is likely to play at least some of the game as Aitor Karanka ponders his selection for Boro’s opening Premier League match against Stoke City in two weeks’ time.

Guzan made 170 senior appearances for Aston Villa after moving to England from the United States in 2008, but fell out of favour as the Midlands club were relegated from the top-flight last season.

The 31-year-old lost his place towards the end of the campaign, and was informed by new Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo that he did not have a future at the club at the start of the summer.

That alerted a number of teams to his potential availability, and Karanka opted to make a move despite already having three senior goalkeepers in his squad.

With Valdes seemingly assured of a place in next season’s match-day squad, Guzan’s arrival places a huge question mark over the future of Konstantopoulos, who started every one of Boro’s league games as they won promotion from the Championship last season.

Konstantopoulos spoke of his pride at securing a place in the Premier League earlier this summer, and will now have to decide whether to remain at the Riverside in order to fight for a place in the squad or leave in order to play regular first-team football, potentially with a team in the Championship.

Earlier this week, with Guzan’s transfer being flagged up in the press, Konstantopoulos tweeted a picture of him celebrating last season’s promotion success with the words: “This picture isn’t goodbye…You don’t leave home so easy.”

Meanwhile, Boro have announced their match-day ticket prices for the new season and have announced a two-tier pricing system.

Eight of the 19 Premier League home games have been classified as Category A (Leicester, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Sunderland) with the other games classed as Category B.

Adult tickets in the main areas of the stadium start from £35 for Category A games, with that price dropping to £30 for Category B matches. The maximum price for an Under-18 ticket for either category of game is £20.

Tickets for the opening game of the season against Stoke on August 13 will go on sale next week. Season-card holders wanting to purchase additional tickets can do so on Monday, with a general sale commencing on Tuesday morning.