On a day that young prodigy Serge Gnabry has revealed exactly why it was so important that he moved on from Arsenal, it seems that another young player may have intentions of doing the same, in the not too distant future.
Gnabry revealed today to Kicker, in a report picked up by SkySports, that it was important to give up on becoming a first team regular at Arsenal, after many years of being in and out of the Gunners side. Another player, currently still on the books at Arsenal, who is more than familiar to the same situation that Gnabry was once in, is young Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom.
Akpom has risen through the ranks at Arsenal, having joined the club as a young boy. Akpom came to the Gunners set up at the age of six and made his Under 18’s debut at just 15 years old. Big things were expected from Akpom, but the young Gunner has since failed to live up to much of the hype surrounding him. Akpom has been present at many of the pre-season tours with the first team and he has on most occasions made quite an impression during the time spent abroad. However when it comes to competitive fixtures, he just can’t put in the same level of performance.
Arsenal were visited by former youth striker Benik Afobe at the weekend, with the centre forward now plying his trade at AFC Bournemouth. He too, like Akpom, had plenty of promise surrounding him, but the dream of playing for Arsenal soon faded when reality hit him at the age of 21. Now at 21 years old, Akpom also has to make a decision on his future, with the likelihood of breaking into the Arsenal first team seeming rather slim.
According to today’s papers, Akpom has several Football League clubs toying with the idea of signing him on loan. The Metro are reporting that Arsene Wenger hasn’t given up on Akpom just yet and that Le Prof is hoping to continue the youngsters development with a loan stint in January. It is reported that Championship trio Cardiff, Fulham and former side Brentford are all interested in the strikers services.
In my opinion, although Akpom has shown some great promise in the past, I don’t think he has much of a future at Arsenal. The striker has largely failed to make much of an impact at each side he’s played for and in fact the Englishman has only ever scored 3 league goals in 57 league appearances. Arsenal don’t have many strikers on the books, but I don’t think Akpom offers us much up front and at 21 years old, he has to consider his future with the club if he wants to get regular playing time.
Having already played for the likes of Brentford, Coventry, Nottingham Forest and Hull City, Akpom is a well experienced player around the football league. But could his next move be a permanent transfer away, rather than a temporary loan move from the Gunners?
AH
It’s best he move on…
It’s disappointing that he hasn’t had more opportunities. We seem to always block the way of our academy strikers into the first team. I look at Iheanacho at City and he gets a run whenever Aguero is injured and does quite well. Granted, we dont have an Aguero-esque striker, but Chuba is so far down the pecking order to get a decent run of games. I remember back when Vela and Bendtner scored goals for fun the League Cup and actually got a run before being discarded as below par. These days you have wastemen like Sanogo ahead in the pecking order. I have nothing against Perez but I am not quite sure why we signed him other than to pip Everton. Did Wenger know Sanchez would be his #9, hence already having Giroud as sub? If yes with Welbeck coming back in January and Sanogo and Akpom, I dont see it. He is hardly a marquee signing and is firmly behind Sanchez and Giroud but blocking the paths of academy products like Akpom.
I saw a video of the 17 year old Nkitieh scoring a hat trick against Leicester. He also bagged a brace against PSG U19s. He is clearly brilliant but you worry about his path to the first team. Like Bellerin, the path should be clear for Academy products to have a chance. Yes they may be 2 ahead of you in the pecking order but the right mixture of fixture congestion and injuries should ensure the opportunity comes earlier not an almost reject recall like Coquelin- that rarely happens.
My final thought is the loan system, it has to be done right or we lose Gnabry quality players.
Really unfair on Wenger, remember the pressure and abuse Wenger get in the transfer window for not signing a striker? The man always stated that his first choice striker was Sanchez but everyone is saying he was an old fool… now that Sanchez and Giroud is scoring for fun and people is asking why he brought Lucas.
i don’t believe he will get any more chance to play first team, i think his ranked 5th choice striker atm
i don’t think he can be the main striker for any team in the EPL now but he has potential,
he should go out on loan again and again until he can prove to be a top striker
lets not forget Arsenal is in the top ten clubs in the world so our strikers should be world class
He is better than Sanogo
Cardboard cutout of Akpom is better than Sanogo.
He should certainly get a loan in January to see if he can improve with regular playing time. I’m not sure about the whole academy/player development system in England at all. On this site fans are calling for us to buy ‘made’ players and don’t seem to have the patience to let young players like Chambers, Gabriel, Ox, etc develop. Conversely, a few seasons ago I watched the 17 year old sensation Jack Wilshere playing match after match and thought ‘that’s too much, he’s going to break down’. I take no pleasure in my prediction coming true. I don’t know what the best answer is, but I know the pressure is on Wenger to pick the players he knows will produce the goods. Reading between the lines of some of his interviews I don’t think he can take the risk of trying out young players because we don’t give them the chance to fail. We aren’t the only club not allowing youth development in the first team. Chelsea have 38 players on loan, yet rarely promote them to the first team.
Incidentally, I caught a bit of Stuttgart’s match last night and our boy Asano had a goal and an assist. He looks quick and calm in front of goal. He might come through in a season or two in front of Akpom.
Akpom didn’t cost Arsenal money. Ox, Rambo and Walcott cost Arsenal big money for their age at the time so Arsenal will make it look like a good investment in those players, when in reality I don’t think they are. Chuba should just leave, he won’t get game time.
He should go out on loan… and take Ox with him.
How old is Akpom? How many times did Harry Kane go out on loan? What pittance would we get if we sold him? Has he ever said he wants to leave? How much Pride do we have in seeing home grown players make the grade?
Patience.