Stewart Downing believes new Middlesbrough signing Afonso Alves will need time to find his feet in the Premiership.

"Alves is quick and can definitely finish, obviously he is a little bit unfit at the minute because he has missed a lot of football," he said. "With the lads up front at the minute they are doing well, so he has got a task on his hands to get in the team. But I'm sure he will, he is a quality player and an international so we will let him find his feet a little bit and he will hopefully bang a few goals in for us.

"He might have had a quiet game on his debut against Fulham but he had only had one day training and it was a hard game to come into.

"I know how hard it is to settle somewhere - I've been out on loan myself - and he has also got the language barrier to cope with.

"But he will definitely come good and hopefully he will soon be banging the goals in, because we need a goalscorer."