Afonso Alves is "excited" to have finally completed his move to Middlesbrough, with the club's fans planning a Brazilian-style welcome for him on Teesside.

The 27-year-old received his visa on Tuesday to remove the final piece of red tape and pave the way for Boro's club-record signing to begin work with his new team-mates.

He arrived at Durham Tees Valley Airport on Wednesday from Amsterdam with fans planning to greet him 'Juninho style' with a Samba band, carnival girls and a host of Brazilian flags.

Alves told the Evening Gazette: "I'm very excited to be here. Middlesbrough is a good team.

"I have the option of training this week and hopefully I will be chosen to play on Saturday.

"I haven't set myself a goal target, I just want to achieve something good for the whole team."

He will be officially unveiled at a press conference on Thursday, and could then go straight into the squad for Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Fulham at the Riverside Stadium.

Boro are confident that even a last-gasp legal challenge by AZ Alkmaar, who insisted they had a pre-contract agreement with the then Heerenveen star, cannot affect their ownership of the player.