By David Kabiyesi
Middlesbrough striker, Chuba Akpom has showered encomium boss Michael Carrick for making his record-breaking dream come true in the second-tier of English football.
In a chat with Mirror.co.uk, Akpom said he is always out to give his 100 percent adding that the desire to justify the manager’s trust propels him to give his best during matches.
“Massively, I think he’s the manager I’ve been dreaming of my whole career.
“Honestly, he’s just a pleasure to work with. I go out there and I give 110 percent and I want to fight for the manager because he’s shown so much trust and confidence in me.” He added. “I really appreciate it, so I just had to dedicate that to the gaffer.
“Immediately when he came in, he put me in a 10 role and he just gave me the license to roam around. You see on the pitch I’m just roaming right to left and he’s given me that freedom to go out there and express myself. I appreciate that so much.”
Carrick has won 18 of his 28 matches in charge in all competitions, showing the skills which saw the former midfielder taken on as assistant manager by both Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer at Manchester United.
Since Carrick’s arrival on Teesside, the 27-year-old has scored 24 goals in 28 games, adding to the four he had already bagged under previous manager Chris Wilder.
Akpom was a highly-promising forward when coming through the ranks at Arsenal, being given a total of 12 first team appearances under Arsene Wenger. However, a series of loan moves failed to yield the kind of development which would earn regular starting minutes for the Gunners.