Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka has emphasised his happiness at the news that veteran goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos has extended his contract at the Championship club.
Konstantopoulos, 36, put pen to paper on a new deal which will see him stay on Teesside beyond the end of the current season, and this will be seen as just reward for a stellar season.
The former Hartlepool United and Swansea City keeper, who has made one appearance for Greece, has kept 14 clean sheets in the league so far this term, contributing to a watertight Boro defence which has shipped fewer goals than any other side in the Championship.
Karanka, in his first full season at the club, is ecstatic to have tied Konstantopoulos down for another year at least, calling him "the kind of player you want in your team."
"When I first came here [in November 2013] he was the third-choice keeper and finished the season as first choice," the Spaniard continued. "This season, he started the season as second-choice keeper and now he is first choice.
"His behaviour has always been the same. He transmits his confidence, his patience and he is very important for us both in the changing room and on the pitch."
Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Tomás Mejías started the season as first choice for the promotion hopefuls, but a catalogue of errors saw Konstantopoulos return to the first team, a position he has not relinquished since.
The good form of Mejías in the FA Cup against heavyweights Manchester City and Arsenal led some to believe that he would begin next season as first choice once again.
However, another costly error which cost his side dear in a 1-0 defeat to Leeds United means that he is perhaps unlikely to feature again this season, unless his Greek teammate is injured or suspended.