Aitor Karanka enjoyed a largely successful roughly three-and-a-half-year spell at Middlesbrough between November 2013 and March 2017, taking the club back to the Premier League.

The 49-year-old took his time in building up an excellent CV in coaching in Spain before arriving on Teesside, and there were plenty of ups and downs before the club finally made their return to the top-flight after finishing second in the Championship in 2015/16.

Boro had the fifth best defensive record in the Premier League when Karanka was sacked at the business end but struggled enormously in the final third and in the end that sealed their relegation just one season after promotion.

Karanka stayed in England taking jobs at Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City, both of which had periods of merit before his departure became a relief due to a strain on relations with supporters the clubs' hierarchies.

After just over a year away from the game, leaving the Blues with relegation to League One looking more likely than not, Karanka returned to Spain in aiming to navigate Granada through a tricky period in La Liga.

Karanka arrived with six games remaining in the club's relegation battle, in the end they were relegated by a single point, despite making the quarter finals of the Europa League as recently as 2020/21.

Six games into the Segunda Liga season and Karanka has Granada in and around the early promotion mix.

Four wins are on the board already, with defeats to Andorra and Eibar on their travels stalling their progress a touch, but it has been a promising start, nonetheless.

Karanka has built a reputation for being a manager who can set a team up very well defensively, Granada are performing in line that with that, conceding six in the league so far and scoring just nine, if top two is going to be a realistic target the 49-year-old may have to release the shackles at some stage.