Brentford have confirmed that they have signed Arsenal’s 18-year-old striker Chuba Akpom on loan.
The move, which has been on the cards for a while now, had looked like being delayed for a couple of weeks by Arsenal’s striker ‘crisis’ but with news of Nicklas Bendtner’s likely early return and Olivier Giroud fully fit the Gunners have signed off on the deal.
Akpom impressed on the Gunners pre-season tour of the Far East and was rewarded with a Premier League debut in September when he came on as an injury-time substitute in the 3-1 win against Sunderland.
He was last seen in Arsenal colours (earlier this week) battering in a hattrick in the 6-1 FA Youth Cup win over Peterborough and will no doubt prove himself very useful for the Bees as they look to consolidate their position at the top of League 1.
Speaking about the deal, Brentford boss Mark Warburton remarked: “I am delighted to welcome Chuba to the Club for what will be his first loan spell away from his home club.
“I have enjoyed watching Chuba’s development over the last two seasons and particularly noticed his contribution for Arsenal in the NextGen Series tournament.
“He is a strong, quick player with an excellent touch and good vision and I am sure he will make a valuable contribution to the squad in the weeks ahead.
“I would very much like to thank Arsenal for their most professional and prompt response to our request to take Chuba.”
Akpom follows in the footsteps of Wojciech Szczesny who spent a season on loan at Griffin Park in 2009/10.
Chu-bee Akpom
*Do not hand me my coat i left it in the car.
Oh chu-bee a, oh chu-bee a, akpom.
Can I borrow your coat?
Great signing for both parties. Hopefully it gets extended to help them get into the Championship. Come on you Bees!
always had a soft spot for brentford, from reading robert rankin novels. Hope its a great success all round.
Went to a game there recently and had a great time, good club. However faced with the sickening sight of Martin Taylor warming up on the touchline throughout the first half, I and a Gooner mate felt it was our duty to loudly sing Eduardo’s name every time his warm-up took him to the corner flag, where we were standing… in the first row… waiting for him.
Pleased to report he was furious and took his warm-up to the other corner flag.
Good man.
Excellent news for all parties concerned.
Szczesny had a good experience at Brentwood, apparently, so we can be confident that a spell there should be good for Chuba. Hopefully he’ll get plenty of game time and that can only be good for him and for the Gunners as he’s obviously a real hope for the future. And it’ll be good for Brentwood, as he’s a quality player.
Good luck Chuba, and hopefully you’ll pick up a trophy too!
Loans are hit and miss. For Every Gibbs (Norwich) and Szczeney (Brentford), we also have Lansbury (Also Norwich) and Rhys Murphy (Also Brentford (At the same time as Szczeney)). Hoping he goes the right way. Would like to see a homegrown striker come through the ranks. When was the last time that happened? Kevin Campbell?
He’s still only 18. Has huge potential, game time there could prepare him to be selected in the cup teams for Arsenal next season. I hope that in 2-3 years he will become a top player for Arsenal.
Daaah dahhh daaaaah
Dahhh daah daaaaah
Dahh Dahh daaaahhh
Dah
Dah
Dah
CHUBES!
That rhymes with pubes… just sayin..
Good for the young man. Bet he will get some minutes under his belt down there.
So what’s the latest on frimpong to pompey?
He must be sick of sitting around twitting and messing up Arsène’s jacket zipper
Chuba Chuba……Congrats and Good luck!
Yes, a good move for Akpom who should benefit from the experience. I thought he looked terrific in pre-season – strong, quick, intelligent runs – but apparently he’s struggled a bit for goals in the under-21s (a tougher proposition than Peterborough’s kids) so clearly he isn’t yet ready for the first team. The only thing I’m sorry about is that he won’t be available to us for the rest of the FA youth cup and the CL embryos comp (the new NextGen, bloody Uefa having killed off the old one) where we qualified top of our terrible group and looked… Read more »
Wenger must have something up his sleeve if hes letting him out on loan new striker???
Probably just means Bendtner is really on his way back.
That and le Prof is probably thinking about 2015-16 for him at our club as well
Seen him play not a lot. He is good can dribble , find space for himself and fast as well.
Still my mind wonders by looking at the picture what did he do that someone had to come on his face ( would have been something brilliant)
Is that Thomas Hitzlsperger running away in the background there? Chubas expression is all like WTF just happened? :O
For 1 month tho! Is it worth it?
I’d say it’s a ‘see how you do’ kind of thing and where Arsenal are at the end of January in terms of strikers. Gives him a small chance of at least 3 games
It’s been awhile since Arsenal started an English striker in league game hasn’t it? I’d like to see that one of these days.
Wasn’t it Chelsea the year John Terry fell over and Walcott slipped, kept going and scored? Or have I mis-remembered it?
A Mr Lover Lover…..CHUBA (Hopefully the next English no. 8)