Arsenal will reportedly let striker Chuba Akpom leave the club on loan this month with Aston Villa being his most likely destination, as per reports in Birmingham Mail.
The England under-21 international worked with Steve Bruce at Hull last season, helping the Tigers gain promotion to the Premier League.
The youngster remained at the North London club during the summer in a bid to break into the first team, featuring in the EFL Cup tie with Nottingham Forest until he suffered a back injury.
Akpom who scored 31-goals(as per transfermarkt) so far for Arsenal U-23, recently returned from his injury lay-off a few weeks ago, but Wenger doesn’t see the youngster as a first team player this season. According to reports in Mail, the forward appears to be happy with a loan move away from the Emirates in search of first team football.
Steve Bruce, who signed Akpom with Hull City last season, is very interested and if the deal were to break through Villa would have Akpom on loan for the rest of the season. The player is yet to decide on his future though.
The young English striker has been at the club for quite some time now and has always been seen as the next big thing. His scoring record for the reserve side of club and country have helped play up that image.
The athleticism, speed, and strength of the remind many of Welbeck. However, he hasn’t yet made that one big leap into the first team.
Wenger’s current system of only fielding one striker up front doesn’t give him many chances of getting much first-team football and a loan move seems to be the best possible option right now.
However, just sending him on loan doesn’t do him any good unless there is some kind of agreement to give him minimum guaranteed game-time, else it’s better to have him on our bench than at Villa.
Can Akpom break into the senior team next season?
