Having finally left the Riverside, Schwarzer will be looking for one final hurrah in the Premier League. Staying up would be a bonus
One of the top-flight’s most reliable – and biggest – custodians at 6ft 5in, Schwarzer parted company with Middlesbrough after 11 years’ sterling service in July 2008, joining Fulham on a free transfer.
The eleven years from 1997 he spent at the Riverside constituted the longest spell a foreign player has spent at any one club in English football history.
The Aussie international arrived in England in 1994, joining Bradford City before moving to the north-east for £350,000.
He became one of Boro’s favourite sons, winning the League Cup in 2004 and playing in the 2007 UEFA Cup final. But he turned down a new two-year deal at the Riverside – and overtures from Bayern Munich and Juventus – in search of guaranteed first-team football. He still wears the same shin pads he’s had since he was 19!