MARTIN BIDS TO FLY HIGH AT BORO
HE’S made a stuttering start to life with Middlesbrough, but striker Martin Braithwaite believes he can reach for the stars with the north-east club.
Target
football. Being around passion, I really like that and it also motivates me more.
“That injury just made me stronger. It made me more frightening (to face), so that’s a positive thing – I’m back and I’m feeling really strong.
“It was really annoying but when it happened, I said, ‘Okay, I need to get back stronger’ and that’s what happened.
“It’s about turning negatives into positives. That’s what happens in life. It depends how you react to it. If you can turn stuff like that in your life, you can have a decent life.”
Braithwaite’s Englishsounding name comes as a result of his Guyanese heritage.
“My name comes from my dad, who was born in Guyana, which is a British colony,” he explains.
Positives
As a youngster, he turned down a call-up from Guyana in favour of pursuing an international career with Denmark, the country of his birth, and he is now a regular for the 1992 European champions.
However, his hamstring problem ruled him out of the final two fixtures of Denmark’s World Cup qualifying group earlier this month.
Braithwaite is now focussed on ensuring he regains his spot for next month’s crucial play-off fixtures, where the Danes will go head-to-head with the Republic of Ireland in a two-legged battle to reach Russia.
He’s likely to come up against Boro team-mates Darren Randolph and Cyrus Christie, but Braithwaite’s mind is on matters closer to his new home for the time being.
He said: “It’s special but we’re not really thinking about that now because we’ve got our own stuff going on – we’ve got to get some really good results for Boro.”
West Ham and Southampton were among the clubs linked with the ex-Toulouse captain as he prepared to enter the penultimate year of his contract but an immediate move to the Premier League didn’t come to fruition.
Instead, the 26-year-old Denmark international joined Garry Monk’s Boro for a reported fee of £9million in the summer and a few short months into his Teesside odyssey he couldn’t feel more at ease – and he’s eager for success.
“We have to not only get back up – we have to get up and get settled in the Premier League,” said the Boro man, who started his career at Esbjerg in his native Denmark.
“There were some other teams interested but they were just focused on survival and I thought there was a longerterm plan here.
“I’m not a guy that likes to settle. I want to have goals and reach for the stars, so that’s what I’m doing.”
Braithwaite has fitted in quickly in the north east with his girlfriend and three sons – Keziah, eight, Satya, seven, and Romeo, two – and likes the fervour of the fans.
He’s also had to overcome seeing his embryonic Boro career suffer a bump in the road, a hamstring injury sidelining him for more than a month, but he returned to action with goals in back-toback games against Brentford and Barnsley.
“It was a major thing, talking to the manager, but also about the club – now I can see that I made the right decision, seeing all the fans and how much passion there is about it,” said Braithwaite.
“I’m a guy with a lot of passion and I really love playing