Stewart Downing struggled to make an impact in the Championship last season because he was too good for the division.
That is the view of Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka ahead of Downing's return to West Ham United on Saturday afternoon, the Premier League club he quit last summer in favour of a return to his native Teesside.
But the £7million former England winger did not hit the heights expected at the Riverside and, after scoring just three times, the club's highest-paid star even found himself dropped to the bench by Karanka.
Boro went on to achieve automatic promotion and Downing has been an ever present this time around, the 32-year-old having looked far more comfortable back in the top flight.