JOSH Coburn has lifted the lid on his summer of transfer uncertainty and told of how he was fuelled by a burning desire to prove himself at Middlesbrough.

Having returned from a loan spell at Bristol Rovers, Coburn was desperate to force his way into Michael Carrick's first team plans in the summer but his ambitions were dented by an injury that kept the striker out of action for the bulk of pre-season.

When he returned to fitness, Coburn looked set to join Plymouth Argyle on loan but the 20-year-old was intent on proving Carrick wrong and earning a stay at the club where he came through the academy ranks.

And Coburn told of his joy as he reflected on the moment the head coach pulled him to one side and told him Boro had in fact decided to keep him and not sanction another loan.

It's looking like a very wise move. Coburn has since established himself as Boro's first choice striker over summer signing Emmanuel Latte Lath and started the last nine games - putting the frustrations of the summer behind him.

“It was a bit all over the place," said the striker, reflecting on pre-season and the summer window.

"At the start of pre-season I didn't know where I was going and I wanted desperately to try and prove myself here.

"My main aim is to play for Middlesbrough. But the Plymouth opportunity came about and the gaffer just said we’d have to see what was happening and I wasn’t really sure. The move kind of came and went in the end and I obviously stayed here and I’m just trying to take my chance as best as possible."

Boro's long-term faith in Coburn was made clear when the striker was handed a new contract in the summer but that was quickly followed by a knee injury that cut short the pre-season training camp in Portugal for the striker.

He said: “I got injured at the start of pre-season which was obviously really frustrating. The loan move all came about when I was injured, so there wasn’t much at that I could do to prove myself to the gaffer.

"But then I got back to training and coming back in, I just thought I’ve got to show as much as I possibly can. The uncertainty probably fired me up. It’s kind of like a ‘prove them wrong’ mentality where you want to show the gaffer what you can do and that you’re good enough to stay. My main aim was always to play for Middlesbrough and thankfully it all worked out.

“I remember towards the end of the window the gaffer just pulled me and said, ‘look, we want you to stay. We’ve seen enough of you in training and we think you can add to the team’. That was a massive confidence boost for me and I’ve been trying to cement my place in the team since."

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Coburn underlined his importance with a double on Saturday against the team he very nearly joined in the summer.

He said: "It was a great feeling to get those goals. The gaffer there (Steven Schumacher) has been great with me about everything as well. He still texts me now, and it’s nice that he’s stayed in touch.”

Next up for Boro is the ultimate Championship challenge when leaders Leicester visit the Riverside this weekend. The Foxes enjoyed a record-breaking start to the campaign but suffered only their second defeat of the season at home to Leeds United last week.

Coburn said:  “It’s going to be a challenge. Obviously they’re a good team, but they did get beat by Leeds, so they’re not unbeatable. We know we can beat anyone on our day. We just need to work hard this week and hopefully we can get three points."