Middlesbrough loanee Patrick Bamford hopeful of earning chance at Chelsea

Patrick Bamford is ready to fight for his place at Chelsea from next season after a successful campaign on loan at Middlesbrough.

The 19-year-old has netted 18 goals for Boro this season to keep the club in the hunt for automatic promotion to the Premier League.

Following loan spells at Milton Keynes Dons and Derby County, Bamford plans to return to Chelsea in the summer where the England Under-21 international is hopeful of earning a chance in the first team.

"I don't have any reason to not want to be at Chelsea," he told talkSPORT after scooping the Championship Player of the Year award.

"That's my dream to play for Chelsea and put on that blue shirt and hopefully that will come true.

"In the Premier League most strikers playing are aged around 23 or 24 if they're playing week in, week out and then obviously you've got the money to go and buy a world class striker like Diego Costa and there's also that pressure to win trophies.

"It's one of those things I just have to stick with it, be patient and hopefully my rewards will come."

The spell at the Riverside Stadium is Bamford's third full season on loan since he joined Chelsea from Nottingham Forest in 2012.

Aitor Karanka's side were cherry-picked from a series of teams who were interested in Bamford and the player believes he has been given an insight into Jose Mourinho's approach to management during his season in the north east.

"At the start of the season I had a discussion with Chelsea and they decided that out of the clubs that were interested Middlesbrough would be the best fit, not only for me as a player but it would get me ready for Chelsea next year, or the year after," he said.

"He said with the training session and the mentality that he installs into his players it's as similar as you can get to being coached by Mourinho."