According to Goal.com, Chuba Akpom is close to sealing a move to Greek side PAOK Salonika.
The England under-21 international had been heavily linked with a permanent move to Belgian side Sint-Truiden – who took him on loan for six months last season – and there was also interest from clubs in France.
Akpom, a prolific scorer for the Gunners at Academy level, started pre-season training with the first team at London Colney, but was left at home when they ventured off to Singapore for their recently concluded tour.
A move away from the Emirates is not a surprise at this point, although eyebrows may be raised at his decision to try his luck in Greece. Good on him, we say…it’s not often you sign for a club that’s sort of an anagram of your surname.
It’s expected PAOK, who some of you may remember knocked Arsenal out of the UEFA Cup in 1997, will confirm the move in the coming days.
Yet another Wenger success story reaches its conclusion
???
god you fucks are boring
Tissue?
Lame
How many academy players in any club in the world make it? Very small.
Why can’t folk like you just think before you say something stupid?
Best of luck to the young lad. I think more British players should try their hand abroad.
Arsene and Arsenal.
Emery and Emirates.
Isn’t it common to have a link?
Kroenke and crap?
Arsenal are crap?
No – but Kroenke is.
Explain the link then…
Pedant what’s 9 + 10?
Easy.
Harder is when you link a person to a club (as the post does above) understanding the logic of ‘Kroenke and crap’.
Kroenke isn’t a club so…
Please explain the logic.
If we’ve got 18/19 year olds knocking on the door there isn’t much point keeping 22/23 year olds who might not make it.
Clearing the decks is probably best, but I hope they all have sell on clauses
Iwobi, you’re next! (I pray)
Papastathopoulos, Mavropanos, Akpom to PAOK,
Its all greek to me…
No attempt at humour here please.
People may scoff at the fact that it’s the Greek league, but PAOK is consistently one of the top teams in the league so, if he were to do well there, it’s likely that a more substantial step up may come to him further down the line. The move will certainly give him more of a chance to impress than sitting in a mid-table Belgian Pro League side so I think it’s a really good move for him to make. He should also be proud in taking the risk in playing abroad – something very few British players ever do.… Read more »
Bollocks.
Chuba Akpom is good enough to play at a higher level than Greek football. He could do a decent job for a top Championship team or even a lower-half PL side. British players going abroad is a good idea: learning a new football culture can never be bad. But the best leagues to develop in are the French, Spanish, German and Dutch.
Akpom should be looking for a new agent.
“He could do a decent job for a top championship team or lower-half PL side”.
And what are you basing this on? His Hull loan that provided little evidence of it?
To put it in context, Afobe, who was considerably more talented than him, was a bench warmer for a lower-league PL side and had to return back to Championship.
Maybe he’d prefer living in a better area in the sun for a club that at least is a regular in the Europa qualifiers, if not a few times into the CL (rare as it may be)?
PAOK are still in the Champions League, winning their first qualifying game. No guarantees of getting to the group stages, but Europa League football is also a possibility.
In terms of shop windows, that’s not too bad, really. The other rumoured destination was Sint Truiden, a mid-table Belgian side. Perhaps also a good shop window considering scout presence, but maybe he fancied European competitions.
Very rarely do English players who end up in Greece return to the PL. If he impresses for PAOK in Europe he is likelier to get a move to Spain, Germany or Portugal (much better leagues than the Greek one that keep a close eye on the Greek Super League). On the other hand, if he fails to impress, he’ll become the next Matt Derbyshire.
This is actually a smart move, that I don’t understand why more young players do. I remember when Jay Simpson did something similar years ago. He ended up living very well. Had a huge villa in a beautiful part of Greece, was treated like a king, great quality of life and low-cost of living, and get to live as a big fish for a short while. Beats going down to the darkest edges of the football league to play rush-football on some muddy homeground up north with 500 people. Never understood why young English players look down on fringe leagues… Read more »
Great to see a young English player go abroad, doesn’t happen enough. Could be the making of him – fair play.
Jadon Sancho, lukman (the Everton guy)
Said doesn’t happen enough, not that it never happens.
The good thing for Akpom is that 2 million is a big-money signing by Greek standards, which means he will get plenty of game time in the domestic league and (possibly) Europe. The bad thing is that the Greek Super League really is crap. Not much football is played and the politics of it all is 3rd world stuff. PAOK is the team whose owner marched on to the pitch with a gun to threaten the referee last season.
Any idea on the fee?
Reports from Greece suggest the fee is 1 million euros. Arsenal has also put a sell-on clause in the deal.
It’s a shame, I had high hopes for Chuba. Of course, he may well still have a great career – just not the one many of us had (optimistically) envisioned for him at Arsenal.
Actually the Thessaloniki pronounciation of the team is mPAOK so it’s an exact anagram of his last name 😛
Shame. He always seems so much promise every summer but never seems to get much of a look in. He needs to kick on with his career now. Also likely on the chopping block for their own sake – Jenko, Campbell, Asano, maybe either Perez or Welbeck even. Much of the market is still in the air and there will be plenty of late action. Most are waiting to see how players like Neymar and Mbappe possibly even Hazard will further affect spending closer to end of window. But this won’t entirely affect Akpom if should a rumour to the… Read more »