Michael Carrick hails Chuba Akpom’s exploits in Middlesbrough PL promotion chase 

By Wale Mustapha

Nigerian striker, Chuba Akpom has received commendation from his Middlesbrough manager, Michael Carrick for his brilliant performance in the ongoing EFL Championship.

The 27 year old striker joined Middlesbrough in the summer of 2020 but failed to make an instant hit in the first season scoring just five goals in as many games.

Akpom, however, has had a massive turnaround at Boro in the current campaign pushing the club closer to a possible return to the Premier League, scoring a whooping 22 goals in 29 matches for Boro.

Carrick, who replaced Chris Wilder midway into the season, has lauded the Nigerian-eligible striker’s performance just, while tasking him to maintain his brilliant form in their Premier League promotion quest.

“It’s fantastic when someone in your team scores the goals that he has, but the biggest thing for me has been seeing Chuba grow, as a player and as a person,” Carrick told The Northern Echo.

“Having that taste of goals and of success, he’s using that as motivation to push himself even more. It’s almost a form of greed in the nicest kind of way because it’s motivating him to want more.

“Some people get a taste for that and think, ‘That was fantastic, well done’. Others think, ‘I want a little more of that, I want to improve and I want bigger and better things’.

“For me, the way Chuba has gone about it, he’s desperate to learn and desperate to take in information all the time.”

With 10 games left in the Championship, Middlesbrough are third on log, four points behind second-placed Sheffield United and will be relying on the form of Akpom to usurp the Blades for the automatic promotion spot.