Neil Warnock explains Chuba Akpom's situation and makes Middlesbrough transfer admission

Akpom, 25, has recently become a father and hasn’t been sleeping well due to changes in his personal life.

Boro signed Akpom from Greek side PAOK in September but, after a promising start, the forward hasn’t scored since the Teessiders’ 3-1 win at Wycombe on January 2.

Warnock has regularly commented on opportion strikers this season, admitting he’d like a more physical presence up front.

When asked about his initial expectations for Akpom, the Boro boss replied: “I think it's different types of players.

"The recruitment team, he was top of their list really. We couldn't watch games in that period, we only looked at Chuba on the internet. He looked the best of the bunch from what we were looking at so that's why we signed him.

"I think on the stats, the recruitment team were convinced he was the best one. He started off really well.

"In his personal life, he's just had a baby in the last few weeks. That is a tremendous change in your life when you have a baby. All of a sudden you're used to sleeping all night long and then you're up every two hours and you don't have a sleeping pattern.

"When that happens, I think it took me about six months when I was playing.

"So you have to consider that at the moment, and I don't really expect too much from him at the moment because he's not sleeping well and anybody who has children knows it can be difficult at times.”

Asked if there is more to come from Akpom in the future, Warnock added: “I can't tell you. I saw flashes of what he could do when he first came.

"He's been a shadow of himself these last few weeks, so that's why we have to be careful on the recruitment side.

"I can make anybody look good on a video. We really have to go into everything a bit more when we're looking to sign players.

"I don't think we'll be signing another player on the recruitment saying just watching a video, we need to watch players live.”

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