The Championship‘s top scorer Chuba Akpom says he is ready to commit his future to Middlesbrough amid continued contract uncertainty at the Riverside.
Akpom’s contract expires at the end of the season and he has been linked with a move to the Premier League, with reports claiming Everton and Crystal Palace are among the clubs interested.
The former Arsenal trainee was unwanted and training with the reserves 12 months ago but became a mainstay of Middlesbrough’s side after Michael Carrick was appointed. Akpom was moved to the No 10 position and scored 28 goals in a campaign where Boro reached the Championship play-offs.
Boro’s talks with Akpom are ongoing but they do not want to lose him for nothing as a free agent next year.
Ahead of a new EFL season which kicks off this weekend Akpom – who took to social media earlier in the week to deny rumours that his contract demands were slowing an agreement with Boro – insists that he wants to stay at the Riverside.
“Yeah, of course [I want to stay],” he said at the EFL’s launch event at Sunderland‘s Stadium of Light.
“I’ve made it clear that I feel at home at Middlesbrough, so I think me saying that shows that I would love to stay.
“I’ve played my best football here and I just feel very loved by the fans. I still get a lot of love from the fans and I still feel at home at the club, in and around the training ground and stuff.”
Of negotiations themselves, he said he would leave contract talks to his representatives while he concentrated on football.
Boro begin the new season at home to Millwall, who narrowly missed out on the top six last season. The match will be a marker for how high expectations should be on Teesside.
“We’ll just have to see how things go. A lot of things are not in my control or not in my hands, so I just have to focus on getting fit and being ready to play football again,” he said.
Akpom has missed the entirety of pre-season but says he is “slowly getting there”.
“I’m back on the grass and running and doing individual ball work, so it’s good progress. I don’t want to put a timeframe on it, I just go on how I feel really,” he said.
“You don’t want to rush it and get re-injured. So I take it day-by-day, but I can say I’m in a good position right now.”
Boro are among the Championship’s promotion favourites but relegated trio Southampton, Leicester City and Leeds United are heavily backed to set the pace in the second tier – which returns on Friday.
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