DIMI KONSTANTOPOULOS will be doing everything he can to have the crack at the Premier League he dreamed of, says the man who took a gamble on him at Middlesbrough.

Tony Mowbray, the former Boro boss, was responsible for handing the towering Greek goalkeeper an opportunity to earn a contract at the Riverside Stadium four summers ago.

Konstantopoulos had trained with Hartlepool United as a free agent and then, after the Mowabry call came, after a couple of weeks’ training at Rockliffe Park he was handed a deal.

Initially the former AEK Athens man had to wait for his chance of a first team shirt but when Aitor Karanka took over three years ago yesterday he found himself playing more regularly.

Konstantopoulos was a significant factor of Middlesbrough’s promotion winning season last time around and he was also impressive during the run to the play-off final at Wembley the previous season.

Following the arrivals of Victor Valdes and Brad Guzan after promotion to the Premier League, Konstantopoulos has found himself on the periphery of things after a summer when Karanka previously claimed the player had turned a move away down.

Mowbray said: “Goalkeeper is a very difficult position at any club because only one gets to play while the others sit it out. I don’t know for sure but I imagine Dimi is wise enough to know his situation.

“He’s written his piece in the history books of the club and if there’s more to come then I’m sure he’ll be working hard every day on the training ground and if he gets called upon he won’t let anybody down, I’m sure.”

Konstantopoulos is still waiting to make his first appearance at the top-flight of English football and at the age of 37, he turns 38 this month, time is running out for him.

But Mowbray is a huge admirer and has recalled how signing him came about.

He said: “The situation Dimi came in under was that we needed another goalkeeper because Jason Steele had been injured.

“Dimi was in Hartlepool, he’d left AEK Athens at the end of the previous season and he was available. He was a nice big guy, he looked the part but he admitted he needed to train and work to get fit. What I saw was the experience.

“He came in for a very humble salary, because he wanted to come into a professional club. He was helping us and we were helping him, and he was fantastic around the club.

“I’d left the club by then but he eventually got himself up to speed and got in the team, and he played the majority if not all of the season when they got promoted.

“It’s a great story for him from where he was when he came into the club to what he achieved. What he brings is experience. Whether the manager decides that’s what the team needs at any time is not for me to say.”

While Konstantopoulos has tried to force his way back into Karanka’s thinking, Dutch midfielder Marten de Roon has done exactly that on the international stage.

The £12m midfielder was called into the Netherlands squad last week for the first time after head coach Danny Blind had suggested he needed to be more dominant in the middle before he can start for his country.

But De Roon, who scored the equaliser for Middlesbrough at Manchester City ten days ago, has hit back and is keen to impress in an orange shirt.

De Roon said: “I understand his point that I need to be more dominant with the ball. But it is also my duty as a defensive midfielder. I have to steal balls and hand them over to the likes of Gaston Ramirez or Wesley Sneijder. It’s a bit how you interpret it.”

Tony Mowbray talked to The Northern Echo at an event to promote a new art exhibition, ‘Doctor Who and the Unseen History of Middlesbrough Football Club’, by the club’s former Artist in Residence Richard Piers Rayner.

The exhibition is being held at pythongallery, Royal Middlehaven House, 21 Gosford Street, Middlesbrough TS2 1BB until Saturday, November 19. Entry is free of charge.