JAMAICAN PREMIER League star Bobby Decordova-Reid, Fulham’s current top goalscorer with five Premier League strikes, is thriving in the English top tier with his ultimate goal to compete at the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.

Having played half-a-dozen games for Jamaica, including back-to-back friendlies at hosts Saudi Arabia last November, the 27-year-old is keen to convert his notable club form onto the international stage.

The hot-shot striker notched his tenth Premier League goal last month, during the entertaining 2-2 draw at lowly West Bromwich Albion, busy scaring top-flight defences in his prized no.14 jersey.

And the Bristol-born ace has been long collecting goals throughout his career, especially after moving from midfield for the 2017-18 campaign in a switch that relaunched his career.

This transformation to a forward by then Bristol City head coach Lee Johnson could help Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz finally return to the World Cup finals, with next year’s highly lucrative event scheduled to be tackled in Western Asia.

Decordova, who joined his local club aged seven under just the surname of Reid (since changed by deed poll in October 2018), progressed through the youth ranks until he marked his senior debut as an eager teenage attacking midfielder on the closing day of the 2010-11 Championship season.

After being sent out to loans with lower league teams Cheltenham Town, Oldham Athletic and Plymouth Argyle, he eventually cemented himself as a regular starter as a central midfielder for Bristol City.

The decision to shift the pacy player forward was a brilliant move by Johnson, who offered the youngster the opportunity to switch at pre-season training. The coach firmly believed that Decordova-Reid ticked all the boxes to present the opposition major challenges in the penalty area.

This monumental move revitalised his career as he took to his new position like a fish to water, notching 21 goals in all competitions.

His metamorphosis continued to impress up front with his attitude and strikes, although the side missed out on a play-off places in 2017-18.

During the same season he reached the Carabao Cup semi-finals, where he notably found the back of the net at the Etihad Stadium in the opening leg of a 5-3 aggregate defeat by Manchester City.

This glimpse of the big time, alongside so many cracking displays that earned him a place in the Professional Footballers’ Association 2018 Team of the Year, was attracting the kind of attention that his silky skills deserved.

His consistent form attracted an array of clubs prepared to splash the cash on a player who had yet to pull on a jersey for Jamaica, with Decordova-Reid moving to cash-rich Cardiff City for £8.5m in the summer of 2018 and ignoring the interest from Derby County and West Bromwich Albion.

Yet his career in Wales failed to ignite as he struggled to fit into the system of then manager Neil Warnock, notching just five goals in 30 appearances (half as substitute), with his personal highlight facing Liverpool – the club he supports.

Having failed to match up to his hype, Decordova-Reid was relegated in Cardiff City’s first season back in the top tier.

Surplus to requirements he joined Fulham mid-season, initially on a loan deal, but after impressing head coach Scott Parker during his short stint he made the move permanent to West London in a £10m three-and-a-half year deal and is believed to be earning in the region of £30,000 a week.

His transfer to ambitious Craven Cottage brought him closer to his older sister, Marsha de Cordova, the Labour MP for Battersea who is well-known for being a prominent speaker about disability rights.

Decordova-Reid and Fulham team-mate Michael Hector won the play-offs, defeating Brentford with a dramatic 2-1 play-off triumph over Brentford in early August, to join former Boyz skipper Wes Morgan (Leicester City) as the only Jamaican internationals to compete in this season’s Premier League.

As well as notching five goals during his top tier appearances – three as sub – this term with Fulham, Decordova-Reid has been denied once by the woodwork.

He has represented the Boyz six times, scoring on his debut in the 6-0 CONCACAF Nations League victory over Antigua & Barbuda at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in September 2019.

Decordova-Reid has hit a rich vein of form that Jamaica head coach Theodore Whitmore will wish to blood when the World Cup qualifiers for the CONCACAF region kick-off later this year, and hopefully his skills can be honed on the international stage as he has yet to replicate his prowess in front of goal for the Boyz.