Tuesday night was seen as something of a celebration for the Arsenal Academy with three players who signed scholarship terms with the club at the start of last season making their Champions League debuts in the victory over Galatasaray.
Gedion Zelalem and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were both introduced at the start of the second-half, whilst Stefan O’Connor was brought on as a late replacement for Mathieu Debuchy.
One youngster, though, can’t have been totally satisfied with his trip to Turkey, with Chuba Akpom remaining an unused substitute throughout.
A regular goalscorer for Arsenal at youth level- he has found the net nine times in eight U21 matches this season- Akpom’s long-term future at the club is growing increasingly uncertain with the striker yet to commit to an extension of his current contract, which is set to expire in June 2015.
Akpom, who spent time on loan at Coventry City and Brentford last season, could be forgiven for feeling a little frustrated at his lack of first-team action this year. He was officially promoted to the senior squad earlier in the campaign but primarily trains with the U21s and, to date, he has played just five minutes of first-team football this season, which came back in September as a substitute against Southampton in the Capital One Cup.
Although he is still some way from being the finished article, Akpom possesses much raw promise and, even though he is two years younger than the Frenchman, he is viewed by many as a preferable alternative to Yaya Sanogo, who has scored just one competitive goal for the club.
Akpom’s chances of receiving a first-team run out, even from the bench, appear to be minimal at present, with the club’s injury crisis not currently affecting the striking department. Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud, Danny Welbeck, Lukas Podolski, Joel Campbell and Yaya Sanogo are all available and it would take injuries to several of those players for Akpom to even come close to making the bench in the Premier League.
He could feature in some capacity in the FA Cup 3rd Round tie at home to Hull City, but the England U20 international may instead be sent out on loan again in the New Year so that he can receive regular playing time.
At present it is difficult to think of too many reasons why Akpom would want to remain at Arsenal if he isn’t going to get sufficient opportunities in the future. The club is known for giving chances to young players, but his situation is such that, unless there is a drastic improvement in his playing time, he could be tempted to move elsewhere.
Akpom certainly wouldn’t be short of suitors if he elected to do just that, but it would be a mighty shame for Arsenal to lose a player that they have spent a decade developing on a free transfer. Even if Akpom wasn’t to make the grade in the long-term, he should at least be provided with an opportunity to prove his worth and an extended deal would enable the club to sell him for a fee in the future if he doesn’t quite cut it.
Akpom’s situation will be one to watch with interest as the season progresses. If there are many more instances like what happened on Tuesday he may not be an Arsenal player for much longer.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
i don’t think sanogo is going to develop into the player wenger thinks he will, but wenger is too stubborn to admit it. he’s also very injury prone. send him out on loan if there’s any takers and give akpom a chance.
Surely if he thinks he’s going to develop into a great player (I think he has a shitton of potential, incidentally) then the issue is wth his judgement rather than being stubborn?
For what it’s worth, Sanogo gives more to the team but I do feel like Akpom would score more.
Yaya Score one goal is a Peter Crouch with a worse score efficiency. There is no potential in the lad whatsoever. I’d bet he would not even make it in to a championship side.
The question I would be asking Wenger et al is: do you think Sanogo could score 9 in 8 in the u21 league? I would be surprised if he could
Well he has a goal a game record for the u21 French team this year, he was also top scorer in the u21 wc.
Plus he likes to score Overhead kicks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz_pwuNvHYI
the main problem is that in today 19 year olds think that they are almost ready for the first team. Akpom should reliaze that at the moment, he is just junior player – nothing more. I’d get it if he was yearning for Game time when he’s 21-22, but at 19 he is just a youth player who has a lot more to develop over the next 3-5 years. There are way too many youngsters in arsenal over the last few years who leave too early because they believe they’re all that too early in life. We’ve seen kristoffer olsson… Read more »
Pogba was 19 when he wanted games and better wages from Man utd, a player doesn’t have to wait till 21-22 to start games for the senior side, if his good enough, loan him or sell him and make money not run out his contract!
Lets face it, Paul Pogba is an exceptional talent and was always rated as much more talented than akpom is. The lad’s a very good striker and will be First-team quality in 2-3 years, but do you think the likes of Juve will buy him right now to start him in games? I dont.
Difficult situation for the manager but these kind of things happen all the time and they just leave and blossom somewhere else.
Hope it ends well for him and he gets to fulfill his potential either here or elsewhere.
I have a feeling Arsene will be going for more of the finished articles to enhance his chances of giving Arsenal another major trophy before he says goodbye.
Apart from Andy Cole about 20 years ago, I can’t think of a single youth team player who left to ‘blossom’ into a player that would make it at Arsenal.
In this particular department, I would have to say Wenger’s judgement has been spot on.
I’m not sure if we can afford to give Akpom the chance he wants, in the timeframe he expects. I think everyone should be more excited about Wellington Silva for next season, he is some seriously exciting talent.
Wellington Silva is a more exciting talent than Akpom based on what exactly?
He’s Brazilian.
And likes pizza.
I’m not sure you need anything else.
He also has a shoe range named after him
Top clubs BUY their strikers, end of.
Wenger would be insane to jeopardise the only trophy we have a chance of winning by playing kids against Hull. They nearly beat us with us being nearly full strength!
Oh? How much did Messi cost Barca?
A player doesn’t get anymore top than him, surely?
Henry? Van Persie? Adebayo(lol I know) anelka
This is a list of cheap wenger trained strikers to have won the top goal scorer in the pl. say what you want about wenger, he develops great forwards. Sanchez will be the 1st readymade striker we purchase to score + 20 in a league season.
Our style of play means our forwards grow into the position, they develop into it as the team evolves.
the last line of the article is nonsense, there was no opportunity to bring him on midweek, our first two subs were due to injuries and Debuchy was playing his first game in months, he was always scheduled to come off early in the game. Akpom is unlucky that Ramsey and Flamini got injured meaning his change of playing went. So if he is miffed by not getting on in the circumstances as they unfolded then he is an idiot. if he is likely to be wanted by lots of other FAPL clubs then why has there not been lots… Read more »
Excellent comment.
I’d keep him and sell Campbell
Afobe looks better than this one.
Afobe is further along his development but Akpom needs to go the loan route and if possible get an FAPL loan deal. He is not ready for the Arsenal first team yet.
Very happy for Afobe at this point.
23apps 18 goals (including a brace vs. the Mancs).
Hoping he gets a chance with us next season.
Sanogo over Akpom is one of the reasons I think Arsene doesn’t have much to offer us any more
Umm… Have you seen Akpom play? Or are you just going by the news about his goals? Because Sanogo scores like a demon for France’s U21 side. I think Akpom should be given a chance, certainly, but I don’t think the vast majority of people know enough about him to definitively say he’s the better player than Sanogo.
Oh Sanogooooooooooal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz_pwuNvHYI
Good performance need to score more with all our chances and i hope the fans are ready over there to give the stoke fans the same treatment that we got
He needs to go out on loan because he’s killing it at U21 level and he’s not learning much atm, needs a bigger challenge and regular playing time in a competitive league.
Dont understand the Sanogo comparisons. Akpom infuriates me whenever i see him play, he is a ball hog when he gets it, doesnt look around and tries to do everything. In some preseason matches one could almost see Afobe (or whoever was playing striker) just stop as soon as Akpom got the ball, expecting him to not pass. Its just the level of competition he is playing in that is making him look good, going up a level he would be easily isolated and dispossessed regularly unless he learns how to play better with the team. Needs more than fancy… Read more »
This guy should be getting game time, bottom 8 teams , home games, already infront, 20 minutes to go.. Get involved ! How else is he meant to develop ?