Neil Warnock's Britt Assombalonga dilemma at Middlesbrough after Millwall and Swansea wins

After admitting his side lacked natural leaders,there wasn’t an obvious candidate to receive the armband following the departure of George Friend to Birmingham, yet not many predicted Britt Assombalonga would be given the role.

Even Assombalonga himself confessed he wasn’t expecting to be named captain for a pre-season friendly against Plymouth, but conceded at 28-years-old he is one of the senior players.

Some will argue the striker hasn’t hit the heights which were anticipated from the club’s record signing since his move from Nottingham Forest in 2017.

That is largely down to the £15million price tag which was paid for the DR Congo international, who continues to divide opinion among supporters.

Assombalonga has scored 45 goals in 146 appearances for Boro, an average of just over a goal every three games.

That’s far from a bad record at Championship level, yet his stats for Forest, 30 goals in 69 appearances, suggest we haven’t quite seen the best of him.

Assombalonga could point to last year’s injury setback, as well as the shortage of goalscoring chances he received playing in Tony Pulis’ side.

Perhaps giving him the captain’s armband would prove to be a masterstroke from Warnock to get the best from his main striker.

Yet despite some early promise and praise from Warnock that Assombalonga was working his socks off, it still hasn’t quite clicked.

There’s no question that Assombalonga, who has started just two of Boro’s last five games, has missed the presence of strike partner Ashley Fletcher after the pair finished last season strongly.

And despite Boro’s goalscoring struggles this campaign, Warnock has rarely elected to start Assombalonga and Chuba Akpom up front together, with one or the other leading the line on their own.

Acting as a lone frontman can be a difficult task at the best of times, yet three league goals in 16 appearances is clearly a disappointing return for a player with Assombalonga’s ability.

And in Boro’s last two wins, against Swansea and Millwall, Boro have looked far better going forward with Akpom and Duncan Watmore playing as a front two. The latter has scored four goals in four starts.

"I like them together,” said Warnock when asked about Watmore and Akpom after the Millwall game. “I thought they did well together against Swansea too.

“We did have to change Duncan to a different role when Millwall made their change.

“At 3-0 up we didn’t have to score any more goals. But he still managed to get himself into the box.

“I think we’ve got to try and get two strikers on the pitch if we can because we’re not good enough to leave someone up there on their own.”

Playing with a partner would surely suit Assombalonga but Warnock has shown he’s not afraid to drop his skipper if he feels there is a better alternative.

The 28-year-old will still get opportunities over the next few weeks due to Boro’s thin squad, yet, with his contract set to expire in the summer of 2021, it’s unclear what the future holds.

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