Ajax are reportedly putting pressure on Blues target Chuba Akpom to join Birmingham City on a permanent deal rather than Town on a season-long loan.

Yesterday, the 29-year-old was on the verge of signing for the Midlanders on loan until the Blues matched the terms of the deal, which includes the obligation to sign on a permanent basis for £7 million next summer on promotion, and the player opted for a move to Suffolk.

Having completed his medical with Town, Birmingham then made an approach to Ajax to sign Akpom on a permanent basis for a fee understood to be £6 million.

However, TWTD revealed this morning that the former Arsenal youngster remained determined to join Town despite the St Andrew’s club’s continued pursuit.

The matter appeared to be settled when reports from Germany indicated Birmingham had turned their attention to Werder Bremen attacker Marvin Ducksch for €2 million (£1.7 million), however, they look to be maintaining their interest.


According to Sky Sports News, Ajax are now putting pressure on Akpom to join Birmingham on a permanent basis rather than the Blues on loan with talks between the clubs continuing.

Akpom is understood to remain in Suffolk and ready to complete the formalities on his switch to Town.

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 have been 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

cartman1972 added 17:56 - Aug 5 Another transfer farce .....I'm sorry but we left this to the last minute with the season upon us , we must have had other players being considered . Window has been open for weeks . Our transfer strategies ( based purely on speculation) comes across as pretty poor.
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cartman1972 added 17:56 - Aug 5 Another transfer farce .....I'm sorry but we left this to the last minute with the season upon us , we must have had other players being considered . Window has been open for weeks . Our transfer strategies ( based purely on speculation) comes across as pretty poor.
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Ipswich1977 added 17:57 - Aug 5 Never "done until it's done". Once we see him a Town shirt it's only then we can relax!
6

brazilblue added 17:59 - Aug 5 My god this window is getting immensely frustrating. How can the scummers be 11 transfers in whilst we wrestle with tom brady over one
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RobITFC added 17:59 - Aug 5 Ajax need the money having not qualified for champions League, any chance of us making it a permament deal ?
9

Gforce added 18:01 - Aug 5 Why don't we just match Birmingham and pay the 6 million and get him on a permanent deal ffs.
15

Linkboy13 added 18:02 - Aug 5 Why did Ajax accept Ipswich's offer if they wanted a permanent deal. Im sure this is just speculation made up by some journalist.
3

muccletonjoe added 18:04 - Aug 5 Would we want a striker who clearly wanted to be elsewhere ?
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runningout added 18:05 - Aug 5 should move on from this farce
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runaround added 18:06 - Aug 5 If we really want him then we should probably just match Birmingham bid as after all the loan agreement means we have to buy him next summer if we go up anyway? All this messing around is doing nobody any good and the longer it goes on the less we will have available when we start the season on Friday
5

Jonathan_Charles added 18:07 - Aug 5 Any truth in the rumour Ipswich have put a bid in for Marvin Ducksch
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AlexMathie added 18:08 - Aug 5 I’m not sure if the blubbers above read the line: “Akpom is understood to remain in Suffolk and ready to complete the formalities on his switch to Town.” Let’s hope this is the case.
9

Mark added 18:09 - Aug 5 What pressure can Ajax put on him though, given he will no longer be their player in the next few days? I understand them wanting a transfer fee now rather than a chance of a fee if we go up. £6m is a lot of money for a player about to turn 30 and probably on high wages, but we need a striker from somewhere. How about the German player Birmingham are reportedly after?
0

Blue_Fred added 18:13 - Aug 5 I didn’t realise we get promoted if we win on Friday. Now I know that it makes sense why so many on here are stressing about the lack of signings before that game.
9

blues1 added 18:14 - Aug 5 Muccletonjoe. But he doesnt want to be somewhere else. Where have you been the last couple of days. Has made it clear he wants to sign for us.
7

Bluewhiteboy added 18:15 - Aug 5 Mark, as he's their player ajax can put on lots of pressure and not even sanction the loan. Can't blame them. Like above if we want him then sign him. If we don't go up this season we will need all the players possible to do it at second hit and all the teams coming down next season will be favourites.
2

Dissboyitfc added 18:19 - Aug 5 Agree with muccletonjon. By all accounts the player wants to come here and has chosen us over Birmingham, not sure I would still want him if I was a Birmingham fan. I had been expecting to see a double announcement today, been checking every hour.
3

Mark added 18:19 - Aug 5 Ajax could pull out of the agreement with Ipswich, sure. It doesn't say they have done that though. If they do, Akpom could opt not to join Birmingham and leave Ajax stuck with his wages.
3

Dug added 18:21 - Aug 5 Ajax agreed the deal then rowed back on it, that’s not Ipswich’s fault, best thing to do here is ignore the problem until after the Birmingham game, let the hierarchy decide what’s best for Ipswich. We must look at alternatives anyway just in case this goes tits up, we also need more midfielders and more squad players..COYB.
4

blues1 added 18:22 - Aug 5 Cartland. Another fan who has no idea about how transfers work. Think you could do better? Offer ur services to the club. Let's see how you do? We've already signed 5 players in a window we didnt need many. Yes, this one is becoming frustrating, but I fail to see how ur blaming the club for that . Unfortunately we arent the only club after a striker, and there's been several weve been linked with. But they've all been wanted by some1 else.( mainly by pl clubs or clubs abroad). And had their own reasons to go elsewhere. We now have some1,who wants to come here, but its being complicated by other matters. If indeed there's any truth in this story which I'm not sure there is.

1

Karlosfandangal added 18:24 - Aug 5 Or the player can refuse to go and turn down Birmingham wage package
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BobbyPetta11 added 18:24 - Aug 5 Bored.
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herfie added 18:26 - Aug 5 Why do we increasingly seem to conduct incoming transfers in a manner similar to elephants giving birth! I appreciate that, with large sums of loot involved, interactions between clubs and players are often complex, comprising many moving part etc - but my goodness we do seem to take the most difficult routes to getting our targets.
3

billlm added 18:26 - Aug 5 Acronym itfc=joke, this transfer window
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Denny32 added 18:27 - Aug 5 Think we should just try sign players from 38 on wards..Less hassle ..lol.
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