How Dimi Konstantopulos went from Middlesbrough’s fourth choice to the Premier League

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When Dimitrios Konstantopoulos signed for Middlesbrough under Tony Mowbray back in 2013, he was a fourth choice goalkeeper, a back-up, perhaps even someone to simply make up the numbers.

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His finest years in English football had come in League One and Two when playing for Hartlepool, where he became a popular figure with the Pools fans, but he had no experience of being a first choice keeper at Championship level. A three-year spell at Coventry; where his game-time was limited, was followed by a couple of loan spells at Nottingham Forest, Cardiff and Swansea yet he failed to record over ten appearances at either club. Konstantopoulos’ career in England appeared to be over when he returned to his native homeland Greece in 2010 to play for Kerkyra, before moving on to AEK Athens a year later.

However, at 34-years-old he returned to the North East three summers ago as a deputy to first choice keeper Jason Steele at Championship Boro, who were suffering a pre-season lull after missing out on the play-offs last campaign. By October, Mowbray had been sacked, Steele had been ruled out with a long term ankle injury and new manager Aitor Karanka had brought in veteran Shay Given on a short term loan deal.

For Konstantopoulos, the next three months may have been the most important of his entire career, and the Greek shot-stopper has since admitted he learned a great deal from Given who had played over 400 games in the Premier League. When the Irishman returned to his parent club Aston Villa at the end of February 2014, Karanka elected to use Konstantopoulos as his number one keeper ahead of his younger teammates Steele and Tomas Mejias – who had come through ranks at Real Madrid.

At the start of the new campaign, Steele was sent out on loan and eventually sold to Championship outfit Blackburn, while Mejias had failed to convince after a number of errors at the start of the campaign. Konstantopoulos was subsequently brought back into the fold, where his calm demeanour and vast experience in the game helped bring solidity to Boro’s backline.

The Greek international; who registered one cap for his country back in 2010 in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Malta, went on to cement his position and the number one jersey with some eye-catching performances to help Boro reach the play-off final last year. Konstantopoulos was a large part of Karnaka’s transformation on Teesside, as the Spaniard significantly tightened up Boro’s defence which conceded just 31 goals in 46 games during the 2014/15 season.

Konstantopoulos played in 40 of those 46 league games as well as the play-off semi-finals and final at Wembley. After suffering adversity in the English capital, Boro regrouped to launch a promotion winning campaign this time around, as dogged defending and clean sheets was once again the bedrock of their success.

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Back in January, Konstantopoulos was just seconds away from breaking a Championship record by keeping ten consecutive clean sheets, yet he and Boro were denied when Bristol City’s Wes Burns headed home a 96^th minute winner at Aston Gate. Even so, Boro recovered – just – and managed to clinch promotion to the Premier League on the final day of the season following a home draw with Brighton.

Their defensive record was once again the best in the division, with the Teessiders conceding just 31 league goals for the second season in succession. In what was by far the stand out season of his career, Konstantopoulos played all 46 games in the Championship this season and was only rested for the cup competitions.

Now 37 years of age, it’s unclear whether Konstantopoulos will have what it takes to be a regular first choice keeper in the Premier League – or if it is finally time for him to take a back seat role.

Even so, his rise to the top has been a remarkable story for a man who had appeared to have said goodbye to English football. Now he could get his chance at the very top.

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Dan Westwell