Karanka’s Middlesbrough move shows Spanish pipeline extends to English dugouts

Former Mourinho assistant lands in promising situation at Championship club

Aitor Karanka speaks to the media as he is officially unveiled as the new manager of Middlesbrough on Wednesday. Nigel Roddis / Getty Images

It is not only Spanish-speaking footballers who are in vogue in England. Coaches are in demand, too, with Aitor Karanka, Jose Mourinho’s assistant in his three years at Real Madrid, the latest to join the exodus from Spain to England.

He will be Middlesbrough’s manager after the 40-year-old Basque rejected an offer to manage Crystal Palace.

Karanka also has experience coaching Spain’s junior national sides and knows some of these emerging talents better than anyone. England remains attractive to Spanish players, and Karanka’s presence will give Middlesbrough an advantage.

They are buying not only his coaching skills but his contacts and knowledge of the game in Spain. Spain’s second division has many technically excellent players who outshine their equivalents at the same level in England, yet on a sixth of the wages.

Karanka has worked with the cream of the crop, some of whom are now looking for first-team football and their first serious contracts.

Karanka, a former defender for Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid, signed a two-and-a-half-year deal to replace Tony Mowbray, becoming Middlesbrough’s first foreign coach.

Middlesbrough are struggling in 16th in the Championship and sit just three points above the relegation zone.

Yet they have the infrastructure of a Premier League team, plus a patient and wealthy chairman in Steve Gibson. Employing Karanka could be a masterstroke.