Neil Warnock made 'perfect' Middlesbrough decision when he axed £15m man | OneFootball

Britt Assombalonga left Middlesbrough for free in 2021, despite joining from Nottingham Forest for £15million in 2017

Britt Assombalonga has recently lifted the lid on his 2021 Middlesbrough exit.

Former Boro boss Neil Warnock allowed the striker to leave the Riverside Stadium for free in April 2021, even though he joined from Nottingham Forest for a fee of £15million in 2017.

Assombalonga notched 47 goals in 161 appearances for the North East outfit before joining Turkish outfit Demirspor in the summer of 2021.

The 33-year-old is currently playing for Barnet in League Two, but he has struggled for both game time and goals.

Middlesbrough told not to regret Britt Assombalonga exit call as striker speaks out

Assombalonga scored 15 goals in the 2017/18 Championship season to fire Middlesbrough to the play-offs, but he never reached the Premier League with the Riverside Stadium outfit.

Meanwhile, speaking to TeessideLive, the striker opened up on his Boro exit: "It's because I didn't want to sign anything. I had discussions with the manager about a new contract and I wanted to take on a new challenge.

"To be fair, he was honest, and I loved Neil Warnock. I thought he was great. I thought he was top, he was honest. He put me captain at the start of the season and coming to the back end, it was like ‘Listen, obviously I'm looking for who's going to be here, and I want to play people who are’.

"So I said, ‘That's totally fine, because obviously, if I'm not going to be here, then you know’. So there wasn't bad blood or anything. It was like a proper gentleman's discussion and he told me how it was and I really appreciate it to this day.

"That's what you want, in football especially, someone's just straight up with you."

Following Assombalonga's comments, Football League World asked our Middlesbrough fan pundit, Liam Day, if his club will regret moving the striker on in the way they did, and if they could have commanded a transfer fee for him.

Day told FLW: "To be completely honest, when he was released, I think it was the perfect time for player and club. Warnock was an interesting man manager, I think everyone knows that.

"It seems like he has his favourites. I remember him speaking about Anfernee Dijksteel like he was his own child. Britt Assombalonga, throughout his whole Boro tenure, it seemed like he had a bit of an attitude problem.

"He was a weird player. Some games he looked part of that £15m that we did pay for him, but that just didn't come very often, realistically, did it?

"I think that's one of the biggest wastes of money and one of the real downfalls for us. I think we needed a full reset at the club, and I think he was definitely part of the problem.

"To be honest, I don't think we should have commanded a fee. It was completely fine just to release him, and, realistically, I don't think we'd have got that much for him.

"I think we played it out right and it's obviously not been too bad a decision, since we've only been going up since he's left."

Middlesbrough never got their money's worth for Britt Assombalonga

Assombalonga produced some decent returns for Middlesbrough, such as his aforementioned haul of 15 goals in 46 Championship appearances in 2017/18.

The former Watford man went on to score 14 goals the next season, as Boro missed out on the play-offs by just one point.

However, when the North East outfit paid the handsome fee of £15m for his services, they would have expected the striker to spearhead them to a Premier League return.

Ultimately, Assombalonga didn't live up to his transfer fee, and his last season in Boro colours was particularly disappointing, as he scored just five goals in 31 outings before making his early exit.