top of page
Writer's pictureLewis Reed

Chuba Akpom: No shirt number to double digits in Amsterdam.

From the get go in the 2022/23 season, Chuba Akpom arrived back in Teeside without a shirt number, fast forward eighteen months he is now on double digits for the season for the four time European Champions Ajax Amsterdam.



Who is Chuba Akpom?


Chuba Akpom spent eleven years in the Arsenal Academy before making his debut for the Gunners in 2013 where he came on for former Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud. Twelve days later Akpom went on to score his first goal for Arsenal in the Capital Once Cup converting a penalty against West Bromwich Albion. Unfortunately for the forward, he would make only two more appearances for Arsenal during the next five years being sent on loan after loan.


He went on loan six separate times to teams like Coventry, Brentford, Hull, Nottingham Forest, Brighton and even went to Belgium with Sint-Truiden. The loan at Sint-Truiden was where the Englishmen started to show the promise he had to offer as he bagged 6 goals in 16 games during the second half of the 17-18 season for the Belgian side. This form was enough to convince Greece Giants PAOK to take a chance on the 23 year old and he moved to Greece for £900,000. The next two seasons he attained a bunch of first team football and he made the most of it scoring 18 and assisting 8 goals for the club. After the second season, Chuba was packing his bags again, this time going back to

England to join Middlesbrough.



On the 19th September 2020, Neil Warnock signed the English Forward from PAOK for a fee of around £2.75 million. Akpom signed a three year deal, and also had the option inserted into the contract of the ability to extend and stay on for the 2023/24 season. Chuba made his debut for the Boro in a 1-1 draw against Queen Park Rangers in which he scored in.



The rest of the season was a quiet one for Chuba, where he ended that season with only 5 goals and 2 assists in 38 games. This slow start back in England coincided with a loan back to PAOK the following season where he found his form again, scoring 11 and assisting 3 during his loan. Upon returning to Middlesbrough in the 2022/23 season, Chuba Akpom was informed by, then manager Chris Wilder that he would train with the under 21's squad and was not even assigned a kit number upon his return to his parent club. Eventually Akpom was brought back into the match day squads and was handed the number 29. It took to the 14th August 2022 for eyebrows to be raised and attention put on the striker where we scored a brace in a 2-2 draw with now premier league outfit Sheffield United.



Despite the odd games where Chuba could make the difference like against the Blades things never clicked for Akpom under Wilder, like they did not for him under Neil Warnock. So when Michael Carrick arrived in October after Chris WIlder's sacking it was seen as either a new start for Chuba or "now or never." From the time he was introduced back into the first team on October 1st until the beginning of January, he scored ten goals and got an assist in 15 games. This included a first for Chuba at Middlesbrough, scoring a hattrick on Boxing Day, in a 4-2 win over then, Kolo Toure's Wigan Athletic.



As we made our way into 2023 Michael Carrick announced that the in form player of the second tier Chuba Akpom, had his contract extension exercised that would keep Chuba at the Riverside till 2024. As many players coincidentally do so these days they reward their club for giving them an extended contract by not carrying on their form however there was no sign of slowing down for Akpom. For a good part of the run in to determine the second automatic promotion spot, Middlesbrough found themselves neck and neck with Sheffield United. So when the two sides met on February 15th it very much felt as who came out on top on that night, would join run away leaders Burnley back in the Premier League. Chuba helped the Boro by chipping in with one goal in a 3-1 win which most certainly felt like the most important goal he produced in a Boro shirt.


Two months after he was given his year long extension Akpom helped Middlesbrough in defeating soon to be relegated Reading, chipping in with two goals in a 5-0 win as a rampant Middlesbrough ascended up the Championahip table. These two goals marked a record for Chuba and Middlesbrough, crowning himself as the first player for the Boro to score 20 league goals in a season since Bernie Slaven achieved that feat in 1990.



From the new year to the end of season, Chuba accumulated sixteen goals and helped himself to one assist. Along with the brace at home to Reading, Chuba struck two in one game on one more occasions that season against QPR and Hull City. In the win against Hull City Chuba broke another record but this time a division record, becoming the first player to score in nine successive home games in the second tier of English football.



In an interview post match, Akpom described head coach Michael Carrick as,

"The manager I've been dreaming of my whole career."

The Englishmen also praised the ex Man United legend on tactically moving him into a deeper number 10 role believing the positional change is what helped him find is brilliant form and gave him the ability to express himself.


Chuba finished the season as the EFL Championship's top scorer with 28 goals in 40 league appearances, racking up Player of the Year and Players' Player of the year.


After a season which did not end up in promotion for Middlesbrough, clubs such as RC Lens and Ajax Amsterdam declared their interest in the Championship's top scorer. On 16th August 2023, Akpom signed for Dutch Eredivisie club Ajax on a five-year contract set to expire in June 2028. He was signed for a transfer fee of €12.3m, potentially rising to €14.3m with add-ons. Chuba made his debut on 3rd September 2023 in a 0–0 draw away at Fortuna Sittard. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win over Volendam on 2nd November 2023.



Unfortunately, finding gametime at Ajax has been tough, only completing a full 90 minutes on three separate occasions and only playing 1100 minutes in all comps. Despite the lack of game time Akpom’s eye for goal has never been lost. Chuba has scored 13 goals and got an assist within that time and despite struggling with injury it doesn’t really seem like the injuries affected his form. His form has helped Ajax pick up a decent amount of points, most recently helping Ajax secure four points with three goals and an assist in back to back games.


With Chuba Akpom turning 29 this year, it seems like Chuba could be a classic example of a late bloomer and his form both for Ajax and Middlesbrough shows there is a quality player there. Time will tell what the rest of Chuba Akpom’s career may hold but it seems like Ajax have gotten themselves a dependable player for the next couple years that they could rely on for goals.







0 comments

Comments


bottom of page