The young Arsenal and England striker Chuba Akpom has only made one appearance for the first team this season and although it was a pretty good one, as he won a penalty and claimed an assist to help Arsenal run out 4-0 winners over Nottingham Forest in the EFL cup, it is not much to show for the season up to this point.
His lack of playing time is largely due to injury problems though, as he has only played four games for the under 21s, but now that Danny Welbeck has recovered from his own injury and with Theo Walcott set to return and joing the likes of Giroud, Alexis, Iwobi, Lucas Perez and the Ox in fighting for a place in the forward line, I do not rate Akpom’s chances of playing a lot of football for the rest of the season very highly.
Well not for Arsenal anyway, but he may be set for a lot of regular time out on the pitch if the boss decides to let him go out on loan. According to the Birmingham Mail his likely destination is the West Midlands, with Steve Bruce interested in taking him to Aston Villa. He would certainly get a lot of playing time there and it was under Bruce that he played on loan last season when the manager was in charge of Hull City, but Villa are languishing in mid table and I have an idea that Wenger would like the youngster to go to a better club, especially if he could get some Premier League experience while on loan.
So should Arsenal just accept the offer and let him go to Villa or should we hold tight in case a better offer comes along?
Bob.
It’s always great to see youngsters come through, but Akpom’s career is over. We have so many forwards, he’ll not get another chance unless there’s a huge injury crisis upfront.
I remember 3/4 years ago, there was a fair amount of excitement surrounding Akpom, but fast forward to the present, and he’s barely kicked a ball in the first team. Yes, he’s still young at 21, but he’s not progressed over a long period, and I think Arsenal fans are fed up waiting around forever for players to realise their potential! One could argue the injuries have played their part, but again, is that not another good reason to let him go? Do we not already have enough issues with injuries!
He probably needs to drop down a division, and then hopefully start is career from there. Good luck to him if he does go.
We should sell him but for all youngsters we sell we should always have a buy back clause.
Even lucas Perez isn’t getting much game time,I think its better for the club to cash in.
Akpom and Iwobi are similar in how they are raised right from being kids at the club. Akpom has the heart of a lion. He desperately wants to succeed at Arsenal. In pre-season, he did everything and showed why he deserved being around the squad. IMHO, Akpom should NEVER be sold; under no circumstances. This guy is lethal. He will come through. We’ve done a lot of work on him to give up on him. There are so many in front of him and I think a loan is better for him. The bar has been raised at Arsenal and players who are arguably world class (like Wilshere) can’t get in. Even Joel Campbell too. So, it’s really tough regardless of the position the player is in. It’s a consequence of having players like Alexis & Ozil at the club. The standard just goes through the roof. I hope Akpom succeeds. I don’t agree we sell him. It’s enough losing Benik Afobe. Not losing Chuba as well.