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Birmingham Move For German Striker Tuesday, 5th Aug 2025 12:16
Birmingham City appear to have given up hope of signing Blues target Chuba Akpom from Ajax, having turned their attention to Werder Bremen Marvin Ducksch, according to reports in Germany.
Kicker and Bild are reporting that Ducksch has said his goodbyes after four years with Werder and is set to travel to England to sign a four-year deal with the Midlanders, who the Blues face in their opening Championship game of the season on Friday evening, a €2 million (£1.7 million) fee having been agreed between the clubs.
That appears likely to signal that Birmingham’s late attempt to snatch Akpom from Town has been unsuccessful, the St Andrew’s club having made a permanent offer to Ajax last night after the one-time Arsenal trainee had agreed to join the Blues on loan and had been in Suffolk for his medical.
Confirmation of the 29-year-old’s season-long loan, with an obligation to sign permanently if Town are promoted in the season ahead, now looks set to be confirmed, the player having indicated that he had his mind set on joining the Blues, despite Birmingham’s late, late move to sign him on a permanent basis.
Newham-born Akpom came through the Gunners’ academy ranks and had spells on loan at Brentford, Coventry, Nottingham Forest, Hull City, Brighton and in Belgium with Sint-Truiden while a player at the Emirates.
Having made one senior start and 11 sub appearances, the 6ft tall striker moved on to PAOK Salonika in Greece for £900,000 in August 2018.
After two years, he joined Middlesbrough for £2.75 million, returning to PAOK on loan for 2021/22, before joining Ajax for an initial €12.3 million (£10.7 million), rising to €14.3 million (£12.4 million) with add-ons.
He spent the second half of last season on loan in Ligue 1 in France with Lille, who chose not to take up an option to sign him permanently at the end of his spell.
An England cap at U16, U17, U19, U20 and U21 levels, Akpom has scored 21 goals in 39 starts and 40 sub appearances for Ajax in all competitions and bagged three in six starts and nine games from the bench during his short spell with Lille. For the Teessiders, he netted 34 goals in 59 starts and 23 games from the bench.
Town are very much in the hunt for another striker - probably two - to compete with George Hirst, Liam Delap having moved to Chelsea at the end of last season for £30 million, while Akpom also operates as a number 10.
Photo: Stefan Koops - EYE4images via Reuters Connect
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Ducksch is great Striker, I suggested last season we should go in for him, would probably suit the way we play... for 2 mill, we should make a bid for him too if we can afford it...
We don't need a recruitment team just let Birmingham city do it for us. How do they get their deals done so quickly the German guys already signing a contract. I think our scouting network needs improving dramatically.
If we get Akpom and Jens then our last 4 signings will have come from Europe. Birmingham have been following Ducksh for some time, so its not the case they've pulled this out of nowhere. The reality is he's already 31, two years older than Akpom, and without the proven record in the Championship. Cautious about rating any piece of business before (a) its done and (b) we've seen how they perform for a few months, but on the face of it I would take Akpom over him every day of the week.
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