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Fabio Borini is not resting on his laurels despite appearing to have established himself in Gus Poyet's resurgent Sunderland side.
The on-loan Liverpool striker struggled to see any football before Poyet arrived in October, and has since been utilised mainly on the left of a front three rather than his preferred central striker role. None of that has stopped him from nabbing three massive goals so far this season, though.
In interviews with The Journal and The BBC, Borini has insisted that just playing is not enough - he needs to add more goals to his game if he is to achieve the recognition he sought in making the temporary switch to Wearside.
The first objective of the season was to get on the pitch every week.
I still have objectives to achieve, like scoring more goals. To play in the big teams, you don't just need to perform well.
As a striker you need to score goals. That's the next step. As a striker you can perform well, but at the end of the season people count your goals.
I needed to prove to myself first that I can play here because I have never had a long spell playing in England. I have always been in England but I have never had a long run of games.
At Swansea I only had 12 games, Liverpool not so long because of injuries and Chelsea.
Lately, I look like a utility player but personally, my role is to play in the centre, nearer the goal.
But it is the manager's choice to use me on the wing.
I'll keep trying to improve every game, even if I think it's not my position.
Despite that slow start, Borini has certainly endeared himself to the Sunderland fans. You know, spectacular late derby winners do tend to do that. Considering he is playing in an unfavoured position, his contribution is generally very consistent.
It must be added, of course, that with a rotation of Steven Fletcher and Jozy Altidore (neither or whom are especially impressing this season) being preferred to him up front and Poyet going on record saying he'd like to add Argeninian Nacho Scocco to his squad, it's probably fair to say he isn't really fancied for a lone-forward role by the Uruguayan.
Nevertheless, it's good to see it hasn't dented Borini's drive to grasp the opportunity to establish himself as a Premier League player. In fact, when he is on the pitch he always appears to be one of those players whose enthusiasm is quite infectious.
As for his future, there has been no badge thumping or open gestures of love for the club like that which fellow-loanee Ki Sung-Yueng performed at Craven Cottage last weekend. Borini's long-term focus seems to be locked on his Liverpool future.
I will finish my season here and then after that I will got back to Liverpool because that is my contract.
Fair enough really. Given the faultless professionalism he has shown here, you can't really begrudge him that.
