Chelsea target Boakye explains resurgence at club level

Ghana striker Richmond Boakye-Yiadom has shed light on his return to top form after years out of the limelight.

The 24-year-old frontman has been a huge focus of attention this season, owing to an exceptional scoring form for Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade.

After struggling with clubs like Atalanta, Roda JC and Latina, the centre-forward is now reportedly a top target of English side Chelsea, with a possible move on the cards in January.

"I have had too many inconsistent years and I realised that maybe consistently playing for teams struggling at the wrong end of the table and to stay in the leagues was not helping because the chances of scoring were a bit difficult," Boakye told KweseESPN.

"My priority when I was leaving Latina was to find a team that attacks more and gives me a good chance of scoring goals. Red Star was perfect for that.

"I am also sleeping early and I have a more positive attitude in training. For me training has become like the game itself, because I realise that you can't have one attitude for training and another for match day. It doesn't work."

In 13 season matches in the Serbian topflight so far, Boakye has raked in 14 goals, having also netted six times in 12 appearances in the Europa League. The Agogo-born was also once on the books of Genoa, Sassuolo and Spanish side Elche.

His connection to Chelsea has been largely due to the Blues current manager Antonio Conte under whom he briefly played at Juventus in 2012. Boakye’s top form has also won him a place back in Ghana's national set-up, where he netted a double against Congo in a 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifier in September.