Birmingham End Akpom Interest
Wednesday, 6th Aug 2025 11:08

Birmingham City have finally pulled out of their attempt to sign Blues target Chuba Akpom from Ajax.

On Monday, 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, and the player opted for a move to Suffolk.

Having completed his medical with Town, Birmingham then made an approach to sign Akpom on a permanent basis for a fee understood to be £6 million but, as TWTD revealed yesterday morning, 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, as of last night, they looked to be maintaining their interest and were putting pressure on the player to move to St Andrew’s where the Blues play their opening Championship game of the season on Friday.
 
However, according to Sky Sports News and in line with TWTD’s understanding, they have now pulled out of the running and Akpom, who has remained in Suffolk since undergoing his medical on Monday, is now set to complete his switch to the Blues.

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, netting 28 goals as he top scored in the Championship in 2022/23, before returning to PAOK on loan for 2021/22, then 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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AlfBuksh added 12:30 - Aug 6

I thought Delap was a great signing - young, with loads of potential. This guy is clearly a last minute stop gap - he may do well, I hope he does , but it shows how little clout we have in the market. What i've seen this transfer window is apathy from players to join us and preferring clubs arguably (from our point of view) smaller or worse than us. Why are we better this year than last? Cajuste returning? Omari clearly not wanting to be here? Philogene progressing? Show me the light that you see...

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jas0999 added 12:31 - Aug 6 Good. Desperately need new additions. This will be a good one. Shame it’s an initial loan.
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ImAbeliever added 12:32 - Aug 6 I believe, (that if he signs) he won’t play on Friday.
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BeattiesBackPocket added 12:40 - Aug 6 Itfc2024 you really are clueless it’s not him is it?? It was the club Ajax stopping him HE said if you can be arsed to read it or interviews has always wanted to come to Ipswich hence his stance with Ajax. Christ I swear we get infiltrated more and more by Norwich fans on this site
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 12:43 - Aug 6

As far as we, the uninitiated, can make out, it's very unfair to knock the player. He's stayed in Suffolk and wants to sign. Looks like it was Ajax putting their oar in to get a deal that was.more favourable to them. Maybe this will finally now go through, but until it does, past experience makes you still a bit sceptical. If the deal is now close, maybe we should praise our transfer team for their tenacity, rather than complain about the lack of progress. It's a tough world out there!

blues1 added 12:46 - Aug 6 ITFC2024. What are you on about? Hiw is he messing the 2club and fans about? Not his fault or towns fault that Birmingham decided to keep fighting for him, when hed made it clear he wanted to come here. Or that Ajax were "reportedly" pushing for him to go to Birmingham on a permanent deal.
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Rimsy added 12:46 - Aug 6 Great signing when it completes. He'll be a real handful for defenders in the Championship.
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blues1 added 12:48 - Aug 6 Jewellinthetown. Why does he have a point to prove? That makes no sense whatsoever. All the palaver around this deal, is .thing to do with him, is it?
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BlueMoolay added 12:50 - Aug 6 Akpom Akpom....Chuba Akpom, Nearly went to Brummie until our Tractor come along, Akpom Akpom.....Chuba Akpom, Akpom you can turn me on. (Sex bomb - Tom Jones) Sorry, can't get this out of my head.!!
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dirtydingusmagee added 12:51 - Aug 6 Imabeliever ,if he does he will probably need reinforced shinpads, he will get a hard time on the field and from terraces I suspect .
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darkhorse28 added 13:02 - Aug 6

ITFCMatt1 the problem is. If we signed Sammon today, you’d say he the best player in the world. Ashton is a geniois and it’s brilliant.

I get your point about the negativity, this is a good signing if a flawed process, but you can’t have it both ways.

Everything we do isn’t brilliant because you’re emotionally invested, it just isn’t, look objectively and it’s been a really poor 18 mk the in some key areas.

Not all doom and gloom either, lots to be positive about.

The blind religious cult like optimism isn’t any closer to the truth than the doom merchants - both have merit.

Personally. I don’t think anyone above the third division is success.., that’s not a measure for me, it’s not our level.

We just had generational wealth and opportunities, and we might not get more points than our legacy third division squad.., time will tell, it’s certainly a more expensive group, and has more quality, but let’s see if it has a team dynamic.

With the financial liabilities we now have, if it doesn’t, that makes us further backwards as a club.., we took a huge risk last summer, and it hasn’t paid off.

People should be allowed the room to express that on a fans forum without being accused of supporting Norwich etc like we’re 10 year olds in a playground.., we need to talk about the owners losing faith too, because it’s important.

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ArnieM added 13:16 - Aug 6

ITFCMatt: if your comment was aimed at me specifically im not sure why! I see Akpom as a very good striker to nick from under the nose of Brum. My only concerm with Town this window is our protracted negation for just about every player. If yih don't like my concern about this that's more a reflection on you than me. And as for questioning someone's credibility as a
" fan", get off your high horse and that moral high ground you've proclaimed yourself king of!

ImAbeliever added 13:16 - Aug 6 DDM..it’d be like a redflag in a Bullring
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LeeCarl84 added 13:18 - Aug 6 Looking forward to seeing him play, looks like a strong striker, can't grumble with this signing!
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Bluebass added 13:22 - Aug 6 itfc2024 ... stop shouting dude. It's blindingly obvious that the transfer window can be a tightrope. We're in there with dozens of other clubs trying to get deals done. Think of it as like buying a house with a chain that needs to fall into place. Also, try giving a bit if respect and trust in the team we all support
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ITFCMatt1 added 13:39 - Aug 6

darkhorse28 if we had signed sammon, it would make me question a lot about the club. Sammon had an appalling strike rate as a striker, and not all the signings we have made I have been completely on board with, but I've trusted Ashtons judgement. my point has been that we need a striker, he is a striker, he's only on loan so i see it as a complete win, even if he is just competition for Hirst

ITFCMatt1 added 13:45 - Aug 6

ArnieM i was not aiming my comment towards you at all. I agree that its been frustrating that it has taken a long time to get signings across the line. In this instance completely different as it was Ajax that was causing the hold up by wanting him to go on a permanent deal to get him off their wage book. Could we have gone in and matched Birmingham's offer again and not have all this hassle, i think we could have, but seeing as he stayed in Suffolk during the whole ordeal just showed how much he wanted to sign for us. I am not claiming to be king of anything, just think its ridiculous for some people to be moaning about a signing in a position we desperately need someone in when if we look just 5 years ago where we were and people still dont seem to trust Ashton in the signings he makes