{"id":335581,"date":"2025-08-11T11:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T11:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/335581\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T11:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T11:22:12","slug":"chuba-akpom-explains-birmingham-city-snub-after-sealing-ipswich-town-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/335581\/","title":{"rendered":"Chuba Akpom explains Birmingham City snub after sealing Ipswich Town transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Birmingham City target Chuba Akpom has revealed why he opted to join Kieran McKenna&#8217;s Ipswich Town despite interest from Blues<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_JS307431948.jpg\" alt=\"Chuba Akpom spent three years at Middlesbrough and won the Championship Golden Boot in the 2022\/23 season\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Chuba Akpom has moved to Ipswich Town<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Chuba Akpom has revealed he chose to sign for Ipswich Town because of a \u2018style\u2019 match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The 29-year-old, <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vi.nl\/nieuws\/ajax-en-birmingham-city-akkoord-over-verhuur-akpom\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"who was linked with Birmingham CityLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">who was linked with Birmingham City<\/a>, has instead opted for a year on loan with the Tractor Boys, who were lucky to escape St Andrew\u2019s with<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/kyogo-furuhashi-shows-strength-birmingham-32232404\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\" a 1-1 draw in the season-opener on Friday night.Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"> a 1-1 draw in the season-opener on Friday night.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">After a breakthrough season at Middlesbrough in 2022\/23 the striker signed for Ajax and did reasonably well in his first season with the Amsterdam giants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">However, he spent last season on loan with Lille and while he appeared briefly in the Champions League, he managed only 14 Ligue 1 games, including only six starts \u2013 and just three goals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">That set in motion a transfer saga which saw <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/birmingham-city-fc\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Blues Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Blues <\/a>reportedly put in a \u00a36million bid and <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/transfer-news\/chuba-akpom-medical-update-transfer-32192966?\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"even had the former Arsenal trainee lined up for a medicalLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">even had the former Arsenal trainee lined up for a medical<\/a> only for Ipswich to swoop in. Akpom was also connected with a return to Boro and Olympiacos. Last week it emerged Akpom&#8217;s &#8216;<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/news\/11095\/13409918\/chuba-akpom-transfer-news-ipswich-sign-ajax-forward-despite-interest-from-birmingham-middlesbrough-and-olympiakos\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"focusLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">focus<\/a>&#8216; was on joining Ipswich despite Blues&#8217; attempts to sign him permanently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">But in the end he has opted for Kieran McKenna\u2019s project and the chance to help Ipswich regain their Premier League status at the first time of asking. He will go straight into the squad and challenge George Hirst up front.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cI was really excited when I heard of the interest and I\u2019m delighted to have joined a club with such big ambitions,\u201d Akpom<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itfc.co.uk\/news\/2025\/august\/10\/town-sign-striker-chuba\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\" told TownTV.Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"> told TownTV.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cI watch a lot of football and have always thought Ipswich would suit my style, so this move makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cI have had lots of good experiences over the last few years, at Ajax and playing in the Champions League with Lille, and I feel like all of these have improved me as a player and helped me be the person I am now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">\u201cI\u2019m here to do as much as I can do to help the team, in the changing room and on the pitch, and I\u2019ll bring a winning mentality here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">He becomes Town\u2019s sixth signing of the summer transfer window and could make his debut away at Bromley in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Blues, meanwhile, have so far bolstered their striking options with the additions of Kyogo Furuhashi and Marvin Ducksch but are on the look-out for further reinforcements up front.<\/p>\n<p>Who should Blues go for up front? <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/transfer-news\/birmingham-city-transfers-chuba-akpom-32240514#comments-wrapper\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Have your say here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City target Chuba Akpom has revealed why he opted to join Kieran McKenna&#8217;s Ipswich Town despite interest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[1205,42707,94,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-335581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc-transfer-news","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115009877125143885","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}