Town boss Kieran McKenna kept his cards close to his chest when quizzed on the Blues’ moves for Chuba Akpom and Jens Cajuste, but admits it’s getting close for anyone to come in and be involved in Friday’s season opener at Birmingham.
Ajax forward Akpom has undergone his Town medical ahead of a season-long loan, Birmingham having pulled out of the running for the 29-year-old.
Midfielder Cajuste, who had a successful spell with the Blues in 2024/25, was understood to be due at the club yesterday for his medical ahead of a return for a second season on loan. Both deals are expected to go through.
Asked about Akpom, the subject of something of a transfer mini-saga over the last couple of days, McKenna said: "There’s nothing to say, really. I think those that know me know I don’t ever speak about anyone else’s players. Chuba’s an Ajax player and there’s nothing there’s nothing really to comment on it.”
The Blues boss dismissed any suggestion of irony, Akpom potentially lining up for Town on Friday against the other side who had been vying for his signature.
"I don’t think it would be, to be honest,” he reflected. "I’d pretty much say any player that we would be looking at, other clubs in the Championship who want to be at the top end of the division would also be looking at.
"And that’s the same at every club. There’s only a certain pool of talented players who can help clubs achieve their goals.
"Any player that’s available on the market is going to have multiple clubs, so certainly from our point of view, it would never be about who our next opponent is or who the next game is.
"We only ever bring someone to the club if we thought it would be a benefit over the course of the season, over the longer term. We’ll see how that all pans out.”
Quizzed on the Cajuste situation, McKenna laughed: "You’re going to be disappointed with the answer on that one! Again, a Napoli player, someone we know a little bit better and I’ve spoken before about how much I really enjoyed working with the player but for now, he’s a Napoli player.”
The Blues boss admits it’s now getting very tight for any new signing to be in the squad for Friday - the deadline is midday on Thursday - particularly with Akpom and Cajuste coming from clubs abroad and international clearance required before the moves are complete.
"I think it’s getting really close, to be honest, even if you take out deadlines of transfers, but also time with the group,” McKenna continued.
"We’ve got one more very short session in the morning and we’ll be travelling to Birmingham at lunchtime, so I think it’s getting really, really close to the point where someone could be integrated.
"My plans, my thoughts at the moment are just getting ready with the players that we have fit and available without the depth that we would want going into that game, but with enough quality to go there and deliver a big performance and that’s where our focus is.”
The Town boss concedes he would have preferred to have been more progressed with additions to his squad by this point.
"The challenge of bringing in players in any transfer window is tough,” he said. "We’d like to be a little bit further ahead than we are but there are still a lot of situations ongoing.
"I can’t be happier with the boys that have been here and the core group that we’ll bring to Birmingham in terms of how they’ve worked and prepared. There’s still a lot to do.
"It’s another summer of probably more turnover than we would have wanted but the journey of the club in the last few years has been so rapid that is inevitable and it’s up to us to roll with that and make the best of that situation and make sure we could out of the other side of it stronger.”