Patrick Bamford, who is currently on loan at Championship side Middlesbrough from Chelsea, is enjoying an extremely fruitful spell at the Riverside Stadium this season. The 21-year-old is at the forefront of ‘Boro’s ongoing promotion push and he looks as though he has all the attributes to go on and potentially break into the Blues’ first team in the not so distant future.

The exciting youngster initially joined Middlesbrough on loan at the start of the current campaign until January 1 – but due to him being such a big hit at the Riverside, ‘Boro extended his stay until the end of the season. To say the forward has hit the ground running at the North East club would be an understatement. The Chelsea loanee has been a superb addition and is a real fans’ favourite at the Championship club already. The England U21 international has found the net nine times in the league so far, and has cup goals at Anfield and the Etihad Stadium to his name, also.

After making his £1.5m switch to Chelsea from Nottingham Forest in 2012, Bamford is yet to make a senior appearance for the Blues. Instead, the striker has been loaned out on numerous occasions throughout his short Chelsea career – two spells with MK Dons were followed up with a very successful few months with Derby County last term, before his current Riverside Stadium stint.

Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough currently sit level on points at the top of the Championship with a game in hand on their promotion rivals. ‘Boro’s lofty position owes a lot to their loan star Bamford – not only has he been magnificent in his familiar central-striker role, the youngster has also been asked to deputise in an unfamiliar wing position in recent weeks, and has still been as effective as ever.

Despite being played out of position, Bamford has enjoyed a purple patch of late, netting three times in his last five league and cup outings. The ex-Forest man has got on with the job asked of him, and his recent goal return just proves what an asset he has been to ‘Boro this season.

Middlesbrough, who have failed to even make the play-offs once since returning to England’s second tier, will be hoping this is finally the season they get back to the promised land, after spending five arduous years in the Championship. Karanka has got his side playing very attractive and expansive football, and there hasn’t been this level optimism surrounding the Riverside Stadium for many years.

Bamford may find it very hard to go back to Chelsea and win a place in Jose Mourinho’s extremely talented first-team, but he’s certainly not doing himself any harm whilst out on loan. Even if his future does lie away from west London, Bamford has showed that he’s more than capable of becoming a very successful forward, and he certainly looks like a player managers should be keeping a real eye on.

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