Britt Assombalonga

His appearance made him the 50th player to go through Watford's academy and represent the first-team.

Britt Curtis Assombalonga (born 6 December 1992) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Turkish Süper Lig club Antalyaspor and the DR Congo national football team.

He has played in the Football League for Watford, Southend United, Peterborough United, Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough.

Assambalonga was born in Kinshasa, Zaire, and moved to London, England, with his family at eight months old.

He grew up in Swiss Cottage, in the London borough of Camden, and attended Whitefield School.

He is the son of Fedor Assombalonga, a former Zaire international footballer.

His brother, Christian, is also a footballer who plays in the English non-League football system at Bourne Town Football Club

This made Assombalonga Forest's record signing, surpassing the £4.5 million fee paid to Celtic for striker Pierre van Hooijdonk in 1997.

Assombalonga scored his first goals for Forest twelve days after signing, netting a brace against Bolton Wanderers at the Macron Stadium.

He then scored a goal each in their next two games, against Bournemouth and Reading respectively.

Assombalonga scored in his first East Midlands Derby, opening the scoring against Derby County at the City Ground.

Assombalonga's goal-scoring run continued with his first hat-trick for Forest on 17 September in a 5–3 home victory against Fulham.

He then went on to score in the reverse fixture against Derby, equalising at Pride Park as Forest secured a 2–1 win to relieve the pressure on their beleaguered manager Stuart Pearce.

Assombalonga began his career with Watford, signing as a 17-year-old youth player in 2010 after making his way through via the Hertswood Impact Scheme.

In his first full season in the youth team, he finished as the second top goal scorer while his team made it to the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals.

He also appeared regularly for Watford's reserve team, and was rewarded for his performances with a one-year professional contract at the end of the season.

He was an unused substitute for the senior squad's last two games against Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers.

In November 2011, Assombalonga joined Wealdstone alongside youth teammate Connor Smith to gain more playing experience.

On 3 December, he scored his first goal in a league match against Concord Rangers.

Assombalonga had his loan spell extended for another month on 4 January 2012.

Assombalonga returned to Watford on 4 February, having scored 11 goals in 16 games for Wealdstone.

Just days after his return to Watford, Assombalonga was loaned to Braintree Town on a one-month deal.

Despite being heavily linked with a permanent move to Scottish club Peterhead, he also signed a one-year contract extension with Watford on the same day.

Assombalonga made an eventful debut in a 3–3 draw against Lincoln City; he scored his first goal for the club to put Braintree 3–2 up before being sent off for a second bookable offence.

He scored four more goals in four games for Braintree after serving his one-match suspension, and was subsequently recalled by Watford to join their senior squad.

On 17 March 2012, he made his first-team debut in a 0–0 draw with Coventry City.

At the start of the 2012–13 season, Assombalonga joined League Two club Southend United on an initial one-month loan.

On 25 August 2012, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–3 draw against Northampton Town.

Assombalonga went on to score five goals in four matches, including a brace in a 3–1 win against Dagenham & Redbridge on 7 September.

Southend again extended Assombalonga's loan in December 2012, keeping him at the club until the end of the season.

At the end of the month, Southend extended the loan deal to run until 3 January 2013.

Having established himself in the first team, Assombalonga became the club's top scorer that season with a total of 15 goals.

He played in the 2013 League Trophy Final against Crewe Alexandra which Southend lost 2–0.

On 31 July 2013, League One side Peterborough United broke their previous transfer record to sign Assombalonga from Watford on a four-year deal.

The fee was undisclosed, but was confirmed as greatly exceeding the club's previous £1.1 million record fee.

He was given the number nine shirt.

Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony hailed the deal, saying he was "delighted", and that Assombalonga had been Peterborough's main transfer target.

On the opening game of the season, he scored on his debut as Peterborough defeated Swindon Town 1–0.

He scored a penalty in a 3–1 win over Chesterfield at Wembley in the 2014 Football League Trophy Final.

On 6 August 2014, Assombalonga joined Nottingham Forest on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee reported to be in the region of £5 million, potentially rising to £8 million based on various clauses (of which Watford will receive 50% due to sell-on clauses).