Alvaro Negredo loving life in the Premier League as he prepares to face former club Manchester City
Striker cannot help but wonder what might have been had he stuck it out at table-topping Citizens - especially under new boss Pep Guardiola
THE last time he stood on the Etihad turf, Alvaro Negredo was clutching the Premier League trophy.
Now two-and-a-half years later, he returns hoping to harm Manchester City's chances of getting their hands on that sought-after silverware again.
Negredo, though, is feeling reflective rather than ruthless as he talks about taking on his old club with Middlesbrough, who he has joined on loan after flopping at Valencia.
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And he cannot help but wonder what might have been had he stuck it out at table-topping City - not least with Pep Guardiola now in charge.
The Spanish striker, 31, told SunSport: “You always want to play with the best and Pep is obviously one of the best managers around.
“What he does when he goes to teams, he gets the very best out of each individual.
"When I took the decision to leave the club in 2014, at the time, it was taken for the right reasons.
“But who knows? Who knows, if I had stayed at City, things might have been different to how they transpired at Valencia.
"There are people at City that I miss. I have some good friends there, both on and off the field.
“I still keep in touch with some of them on the phone, so it will be nice to see them - players like Pablo Zabaleta, Sergio Aguero, David Silva.
“We went through a lot together - winning the league title and the Capital One Cup that season. That was something special.
“So I’ve got some really good memories at City and I’m looking forward to going back there very much.
"I don’t feel like I have anything to prove. I am very confident that I gave my absolute best when I was there."
Negredo can certainly look back fondly on how he started out at City following his £16.4million arrival from Seville in July 2013.
For the Beast was every bit as frightening as his nickname, scoring 23 goals in just six months.
Yet Negredo failed to find the net after January and, despite that double League Cup and league title success, he vacated to Valencia.
It was claimed he was homesick, but really he just felt he’d lost the faith of his manager Manuel Pellegrini after injuring his shoulder.
He explained: “I started the season well and the fans saw what I could do when I was 100 per cent fit.
“But from February I suffered from a shoulder injury which I never really recovered from.
“When you have a niggling injury like that, it stops you showing your best form. And I don’t feel I ever regained the manager's trust.
“So unfortunately things didn’t turn out how I wanted them to.
“I do think I made a mistake to go back to Spain when I was doing things well in the Premier League.
“But thankfully now I’ve been given the chance to come back and start this other chapter here in England again.”
Unfinished business? You bet.
Negredo might look a shadow of the striker we saw in those early days at City, with his only Boro goal so far coming on the opening day against Stoke.
But he insisted: "I’m convinced I can regain my form.
“I have had two seasons where I have not shown my best.
“So you have to be realistic and I am very grateful that Middlesbrough have given me the chance to start again and improve.
“England is a league I’ve always enjoyed and I want to show that better version of myself that you saw seasons ago."
Sometimes you wonder if Negredo’s ‘Beast’ moniker can be a burden, as fans expect the burly 6ft 1in forward to rampage through defences each game.
The nickname La Fiera de Vallecas, which roughly translates as The Beast of Vallecas and relates to his home neighbourhood in Madrid, was first given to him by his team-mates at Almeria.
But it was the City fans that really took it on board, and Negredo admitted: “It was a lovely gesture by them.
“They had seen how I could play and it was probably my size, my build and the fact I get stuck in.
"I don’t think it adds any pressure - I just take it in a really positive way.”
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The great irony is that there is nothing Beast-like at all about Negredo's off-the-pitch persona.
He is a family man - the initials of his parents and daughter are tattooed on his arm.
And Negredo is expecting a son in January with his girlfriend, joking how he will call him Alvaro Jnr.
So does a new arrival mean he could stick around on Teesside longer than this season-long stint?
Negredo said: “It is an option, certainly.
"I am definitely going to be putting down more personal roots here, because my next child is going to be born in this area.
“And I would like my kids to have the opportunity to learn a second language.
“But first of all I am concentrating on performing well this season and then we will see what happens.”
Middlesbrough could do with Negredo firing at the Etihad tomorrow as Boro look to build on last week's win over Bournemouth.
The hitman is still having to adapt to battling it out near the bottom, instead of toughing it out at the top.
But Negredo added: “It is a different challenge but I am up for the challenge.
“When you are a newly-promoted team like us, it’s a battle from the word go, and the initial goal is to stay up, to fight hard to remain in the league for one more season and beyond that.
“We still want to improve so we can get move up the league and can be a bit more relaxed about where we are.
“Let’s hope we can come away with a victory at City.”
Alvaro Negredo wears the new Barracuda/Atomic New Balance Football Furon boots. To find out more about New Balance Football go to or follow @NBFootball on Twitter and Instagram, @nbfootballofficial on Facebook and NB.Football on Snapchat.