MIDDLESBROUGH’S decision to spend £6m on Rudy Gestede is partly a reflection of what Aitor Karanka believes the striker can bring to the Middlesbrough team. However, just as significantly, it is also an acknowledgment of what he believes Jordan Rhodes and David Nugent are lacking.

If Karanka regarded Rhodes and Nugent as Premier League players, he would not have been so keen to recruit Gestede, a player Steve Bruce does not believe is good enough to feature on a regular basis for Aston Villa.

Karanka has never trusted Rhodes, and while he might continue to insist he was 100 per cent supportive of the decision to sign the former Blackburn striker for a fee that has risen to around £13m, his actions tell a different story. If Boro can get anywhere close to recouping their money on Rhodes this month, the Scotsman will be off.

The situation with Nugent is different, but the end result is likely to be the same. Karanka is respectful of the job Nugent did in the Championship, but at 31, the striker’s days of leading the line in the Premier League are surely behind him. A loan move back to the second tier beckons.

Instead, it will be Gestede providing competition for Alvaro Negredo, and even a cursory examination of the 28-year-old’s playing style is sufficient to work out what Karanka sees in him.

Strong, athletic and aerially adept, Gestede is a leader of the line in the way that Rhodes has never been. He can provide the focal point for an attack, troubling opposition defenders, retaining possession and bringing his team-mates behind him into play.

Karanka’s remodelled 4-5-1 formation was never going to be suitable for Rhodes, a striker who likes to play on the shoulder of the last defender and who only really comes alive in the 18-yard box.

With his focus on shape, organisation and being difficult to break down, Karanka needs his lone centre-forward to be much more effective with his back to goal.

Much of Negredo’s best work this season has come when he has held off opponents to win possession or link an attacking move, and Karanka will hope Gestede will prove as effective when he is called upon.

He will also want his latest signing to score of course, and it is worth noting that when Gestede and Rhodes shared 43 goals in the 2014-15 season, Gestede outscored his team-mate despite starting fewer matches. Having moved to Middlesbrough yesterday, he is eclipsing him once more.