Chuba Akpom, Nigeria eligible forward is being monitored by Crystal Palace, Everton and Southampton after his excellent season start.
Former Arsenal youngster Akpom, 27, has fired himself into contention for a top-flight return thanks to his impressive form this season.
The Middlesbrough forward is currently the Championship’s top scorer after excelling with Michael Carrick’s Boro.
The striker has scored 12 times in just 19 appearances, leading Boro’s rapid rise up the Championship table since new manager Carrick’s appointment in October.
Chuba Akpom’s tally for this season includes eight goals in Carrick’s nine games helping Boro climb from third bottom to just two points outside the play-offs ahead of today’s visit to Birmingham.
Palace are currently 11th in the Premier League but the lowest scorers out of the top 15 teams in the division with just 17 goals in 16 games.
Everton have netted just 13 times making them the joint-third lowest scorers in the Premier League.
Southampton are currently rock-bottom, with their failure to sign a reliable source of goals in the summer a factor in their struggles this season.
They are also interested in French side Lorient’s 11-goal top scorer Terem Moffi.
Chuba Akpom moved to Boro in 2020 for £2.75m having kick-started his career at Greek side PAOK Salonika after leaving Arsenal permanently in 2018.
He signed a three-year contract which expires this summer though Boro have an option to extend it for a further 12 months.
Any move away from the Championship teams looks very unlikely with Boro set to hold on to their star man in bid for top-flight push.
Copyright 2021 @ The Athletic NG. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to https://www.theathletic.com.ng/ as the source.
