Bend it like Beck!

Mikkel Beck really looked the part when he first arrived on Teeside in 1996. Good looking, very scandanavian and with two goals in his first two games it looked for all the world that Bryan Robson had unearthed a real gem.

Middlebrough, like Beck, had mixed fortunes in 1996/97 - reaching the League Cup Final despite being relegated due to a three point deduction for failing to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn Rovers.

Beck's contribution in this season was a valid one, scoring 11 goals in 38 appearences largely thanks to the creativity of Brazilian genius Juninho who was always revered at the Riverside Stadium.

The Danish international also struck a healthy 15 the following season in Division 1. Boro's campagin was enough to see them storm back to the top flight at the first time of asking.

Unfortunately, Mikkel's influence at the Riverside diminished as new signings such as Hamilton Ricard made their mark on the side's promotion campaign. He mustered only 6 goals in the 98/99 season and was subsequently deemed surplus to requirements at the Riverside.

Having proved himself a threat in the top tier of English football, Beck looked to refind his form with fellow Premiership outfit Derby County, who under the stewardship of Jim Smith had registered back to back top 10 finishes after relocating to Pride Park.

The £500,000 man struggled to make his mark in the Rams first team and was loaned to East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest and Championship strugglers QPR where he failed to register a major impact in his month loan spells.

Derby recuperated their £500,000 when Lille made a surprising bid for the vanishing Danish marksmen. This was largely due to Beck's form whilst on loan to his native club Aalborg, scoring 8 in 10 and helping the side to a Danish Cup Final.

Beck's fine form back in Denmark earned him a re-call to the Danish national side for the Euro 2000 squad having represented his country in Euro 1996.

Despite his best efforts, Beck never rediscovered his form in the mid 90s which led to him being voted among the 1995 Danish Sports Talents of the Year, and having moved back to Aab having failed at Lille, he missed out on a call up to the 2002 World Cup squad due to injury and a lack of form.

Beck is now 38 years old and after retiring in 2004 became a player agent. He represents some emerging Danish stars such as Simon Kjaer who recently moved from former German champions Wolfsburg to AS Roma on a season long loan deal.