BRUM IS BLUE!

You’ve gotta love a transfer saga and Blues are in the middle of a proper one here as we look to secure the services of Chuba Akpom from Ajax. It was practically a done deal by all accounts but now it’s up in the air it seems.

So to the beginning, Chuba Akpom was identified as a striker for Blues, bolstering our attacking options drastically, and everything seemed to be going through nicely. Akpom began his playing career in England, coming from Newham he started life at Arsenal but had limited appearances, even while away on loan. Between 2013 and 2015 he made 21 appearances for four different clubs before he got slightly more regular football at Hull. He has enjoyed most of his playing time whilst abroad but also had a spell at Middlesbrough where he made his most frequent appearance run and scored the most goals of his career, he had 33 goals to 77 appearances. This is his most successful spell at any club.

Blues structured a deal that sees them take Akpom on loan with an obligation to buy if we are promoted, this was accepted by the club and the player seemed happy with the terms so on a plane he hopped ready for a medical with Blues. In the background two other clubs stepped forward; Middlesbrough tried to hijack the deal but his former club were unable to turn his head. Enter Ipswich and it seems the recently relegated, bookies promotion favourites have stole Akpom’s attention and the 29 year old literally diverted down south for a medical.

You can see the allure, it seems like a safer bet to guarantee Premier League football next season. I personally believe Blues will find themselves in the Prem next season though but I also think Ipswich will be there so it’s fair enough for the players future. That said, Blues don’t back down in a transfer war if it’s a player they want and have gone back to Ajax with a permanent offer allegedly in the region of £6m. This has caught the attention of Ajax who would prefer a permanent move and Ipswich would also just be a loan deal but it seems the player would prefer Ipswich.

With opposition clubs expecting Blues to splash the cash they’ll no doubt be looking at this saga as proof we can’t buy the league, this is all while none of them actually look at the transfer business Blues have done. It does suggest that some players won’t buy into the vision and potentially can’t be enticed by financial packages. This, in all honesty, is to be expected. and Blues would be well to avoid players with such lack of conviction, who can change their minds last minute, as even money can’t buy loyalty so how long would he stay and how much effort would he give if he’s forced by Ajax to join for instance, ambition isn’t for everyone what happens on the days when everything isn’t going well? What do Blues do though?

Well I’ve spoken previously about Blues approach to transfers under Gardner and there’s always a Plan B, C and even D nowadays and with the player appearing to prefer a move to Ipswich Blues attention, according to Neil Moxley, has switched back to Werder Bremen striker Marvin Ducksch. He was linked earlier in the window and was a player I covered in one of the Transfer Round Ups so it’s clear he’s a player Blues know enough about.