‘THIS IS A GREAT CHANCE FOR ME'
Boro switch boosts striker
SHORTLY after Aaron Connolly joined Middlesbrough on loan from Brighton, an article appeared in the Irish Independent.
“Connolly's career,” wrote Aiden Fitzmaurice, “is at a crossroads – and his attitude holds the key.”
Objectively, it would appear a fair assessment. Since announcing himself to the world with a brace against Tottenham on his first Brighton start in October 2019, the 21-year-old has scored three goals in 43 top-flight appearances.
During the same period, he has been sanctioned by his club for breaching Covid protocols, filmed in a variety of compromising situations and has regularly courted tabloid tattle due to his relationship with Love Island star Lucinda Stafford. James Milner, he ain't.
Connolly is a player who splits opinion amongst Seagulls supporters; to some he is a wild spirit whose potential demands patience. To others, a disruptive influence whose youth is no excuse for a lack of application.
The truth, as ever, probably falls somewhere in the middle, and a six-month switch to Teesside offers Connolly a chance to prove that he remains the player who so spectacularly put Spurs to the sword. Does he see it as a crossroads? “Ah listen,” says Connolly, a native of Galway who joined the Seagulls following a successful trial at the age of 16. “I don't really listen to any of that outside talk. People in the media will write what they want, and you shouldn't believe it all. That's what I think.”
‘I'm used to seeing stuff written about me. I just take it on the chin and get on with the job'
Aaron Connolly
Noise
Has he seen the article in question? “I don't really like to look at the papers or what's written on social media, so I'm probably not up to date on what's being said,” insists Connolly.
“But it doesn't matter any- way. For me, it's about playing football and whatever the outside noise is doing, I'll try to blank it out.
“Even if it's positive, there's no point in reading it. Because the next week you could have an off day, miss a big chance and it'll all be negative again. I just like to stay in one lane, enjoy myself and play the game.
“I'm 21. If a player is at a crossroads at 21, then who is writing that? I certainly don't feel like that. I'm at a big club, fighting for promotion at the top end of the Championship. If that's a crossroads then I'll take a crossroads any day of the week. Any player would.
“At the end of the day, I'm used to seeing stuff written about me. Negative and positive, I've heard it all in the last couple of years. I just take it on the chin and get on with the job.”
That has not been easy this season. Restricted to a handful of substitute appearances, Connolly failed to make Brighton's matchday squad in eight of their past ten matches. His only goals came in a 2-0 victory over Swansea in the Carabao Cup.
Watching
“I certainly won't be complaining about the schedule in the Championship,” he quips. “I've spent a year watching other people play games, so you won't hear me moaning about Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday.
“There's 21 league games left and if I can get into the team and stay there, I want to play in as many of them as possible.” Chris Wilder, the Middlesbrough manager, has already spoken about what he expects of Connolly, a diminutive but waspish presence in much the same mould as the club's own Duncan Watmore.
“He gives us pace, can finish at the top of the pitch and gives us competition for the players around him,” said Wilder, right, whose side are fifth in the Championship.
All of that was in evidence on that day in October 2019 when the hitherto unknown Connolly – then 19 – outshone England captain Harry Kane.
Sam Allardyce once said that a teenager played with no fear but a 20-year-old felt the weight of the world. “They play on adrenaline and excitement,” he said. “But then that wears off and they realise what they've done”. Does that phenomenon describe Connolly?
Expectations
“Yeah, it probably does, to be fair,” he admits. “I came on the scene, nobody knew anything about me, or even who I was.
“All of a sudden, I scored two goals against Tottenham and my own expectations went through the roof.
“I piled so much pressure on myself and I expected to do the same every week. When it didn't happen, I'd get frustrated and put more pressure on myself.
“I'd come into the training ground, worrying about what I wasn't doing. And it got to the point where I wasn't enjoying what I was doing.
“I wasn't enjoying training. I wasn't enjoying games.
“All because of the amount of pressure I put on myself. It became a kind of spiral.
“Before I scored those two goals, I was so ex- cited to go into that Tottenham game. All I wanted to do was play.
“After those two goals, I stopped enjoying everything. A part of my brain thought I should be scoring two goals every week when, realistically, nobody can do that in the Premier League. I should have gone easier on myself.”
That will certainly be easier at Rockcliffe, where he will be surrounded by a different set of supporters, a manager who needs him and – dare it be said – fewer temptations off the pitch. Connolly, though, insists that joining Boro was about winning promotion, not a change of scenery.
“It's not about a change of environment or anything like that,” he says.
“It's a move I wanted. I mean, really wanted.
“It's been a frustrating year. It wasn't happening for me at Brighton, as everyone could see.
“So to get an offer to come to Middlesbrough, and play under a manager like Chris Wilder, it's an incredible opportunity.
“People can say I've got a point to prove or whatever.
“I don't really care.
“I just want to knuckle down and try to get this club promoted.”
