HE'S only 21 and has only made four senior league starts in his career so far, but the last five years have been rather eventful for Middlesbrough's new signing Sam Greenwood.

When he was just 16, the forward left his hometown club Sunderland for Arsenal. A year later, after an impressive first season at Under-18s level in north London and after hitting 12 goals in 14 appearances for England's Under-17s, Greenwood was handed his first professional contract at the Emirates.

Twelve months down the line, Manchester United and AC Milan were sniffing around but Greenwood, still only 18 at this stage, signed for Leeds United. Marcelo Bielsa was the boss, a "genius" says the young forward of the Argentinian.

But when things turned sour for Bielsa at Elland Road, Jesse Marsch came in and tossed a curveball when he set about turning Greenwood - a striker and a forward throughout his youth - into a central midfielder.

Marsch didn't last and neither did Leeds in the Premier League. And after last season's relegation and the appointment of Daniel Farke this summer, the Whites decided Greenwood - on the fringes of their first team - could head out on loan, which brought him back to not too far away from where it all started

"It's really nice to be back in the North East," said the forward, who completed a season-long loan move to Boro on the penultimate day of the summer window.

"I'm over the moon. Being from the North East, I know how big of a club this is and I'm really excited. Having my family here to support me and all those extra bits of help, it's really nice."

The versatility of Greenwood - who made his debut from the bench in Boro's disappointing 2-0 defeat to QPR last weekend - appealed to Michael Carrick, who's had to rebuild his forward line.

Marsch might well have played Greenwood in a deeper role during his time in charge of Leeds, but Boro's new recruit absolutely does not see himself as a midfielder.

"My actual position is a striker or a 10," he says, two positions that Boro needed to strengthen during the summer.

"I like to shoot, anywhere around the box, I take set-pieces, I'm both footed and create opportunities to score.

"When I played midfield he (Marsch) saw something different with my passing range and said I was good at counter pressing, so that's why he put me there. But my main position is up-front and anywhere up-top.

"Playing in different positions can help, even if you don't think it at the time. It (playing midfield) made me a bit better on the ball I think, playing at such a high level out of position."

The high level of Greenwood's play as a schoolboy turned heads of several major clubs. Sunderland have recently managed to tie down teenage talents such as Chris Rigg and Tommy Watson to new deals despite interest from the top end of the Premier League but back in 2016, when Stewart Donald was in charge, the picture was different.

"Arsenal came in for me and at the time Sunderland were struggling a little bit so I got sold," says Greenwood.

"It can be tough moving away at that stage, away from your family, especially me I'd never been out of the North East really, so it can be tough. But I got used to it over time and enjoyed the experience.

"Towards the end of my time at Arsenal I was training a bit with the first team. All the coaching staff were great, (Per) Mertesacker was the academy director, Freddie Ljungberg was coach of the Under-23s. It was really good.

"The likes of Rob Holding were really good with the young lads."

READ MORE:

He joined Leeds in 2020 and although most of his first team appearances came during Marsch's time in charge, it was his predecessor who had the biggest impact on Greenwood.

"It was really tough but I would say Bielsa is a genius at what he does," says Greenwood.

"Without having a really close relationship with the players, he keeps his distance and his knowledge is unbelievable. The intensity of training is so high. You have to be so mentally strong to be able to get through every day.

"My time at Leeds has been great. I've enjoyed it so much, it's full of great people and the likes of Kalvin Phillips really looked after new lads, especially young lads. We had a lot of ups and downs.

"But now I'm just excited to be playing for Middlesbrough. I know how big this club is and I know they have a massive following. I can't wait to kick on."