Birmingham City look to have dodged a bullet at the expense of Ipswich Town - He's really struggling | OneFootball

Chuba Akpom has yet to score or assist since for Ipswich Town his loan switch from Ajax this summer

The man at the centre of the Championship's biggest summer transfer saga, Chuba Akpom, has yet to score or assist in an Ipswich Town shirt since his summer loan move from Dutch giants Ajax, having turned down the possibility of joining Birmingham City instead.

Having come through the Arsenal academy, it took Akpom longer to reach stardom than most.

Between 2013 and 2018, the former England youth international went on a series of unsuccessful loan spells with the likes of Brentford, Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, Hull City, Brighton and Hove Albion, and Belgian outfit Sint-Truiden.

He scored just nine goals in five years across those six loan spells, with six of those goals having come in his final loan spell with Sint-Truiden, before finally leaving Arsenal permanently to join Greek side PAOK Salonika for roughly £2 million.

With PAOK, Akpom found a home, helping the club secure their first league title in 34 years with six goals and four assists in 20 games that season, as well as scoring the only goal in the Greek Cup Final that season against AEK Athens.

Despite this, a place in the starting 11 was never guaranteed for Akpom, who, after another solid season with PAOK, would return to England in 2020 with Middlesbrough for roughly £2.75 million.

Akpom's first season with Boro was underwhelming, hitting just five goals and two assists in 38 Championship matches, and would return to PAOK once more on loan the following campaign, before exploding into life in the 2022/2023 campaign.

The forward struck 28 times and grabbed two assists as the main man for Boro that season under Michael Carrick, who fell to Coventry City in the play-offs, and following that, Akpom would be on the move once again.

Chuba Akpom turned down Birmingham City to join Ipswich Town this summer

Akpom joined his current parent club Ajax for a fee potentially reaching £12.2 million in 2023 after his superb Championship exploits but struggled to nail down a starting spot in the Dutch giants' side, making 25 appearances across the Eredivisie season, but 17 of those were from the bench. Despite this, he still managed 11 goals and three assists in the league.

The 30-year-old would again struggle for consistent game time at the Johan Cruyff Arena last season, and would spend the second half of the campaign on loan in France with Lille.

Upon returning to the Dutch capital this summer, Akpom was made available for transfer, to which both Birmingham City and Ipswich Town closely battled for his signature.

Akpom ultimately rejected a move to Birmingham in favour of Ipswich, who signed the Englishman on loan with an obligation to buy for £7 million if they are promoted back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Upon signing for the Tractor Boys, Akpom said: "I was really excited when I heard of the interest, and I’m delighted to have joined a club with such big ambitions.

"I watch a lot of football and have always thought Ipswich would suit my style, so this move makes perfect sense."

Neither Ipswich nor Birmingham have been firing on all cylinders so far this season as to what had been expected, with the Blues having broken the EFL points record in League One just last season and the Tractor Boys dropping down from the Premier League.

Ipswich sit 14th in the Championship table ahead of their home match against West Brom on Saturday, having lost back-to-back games against Middlesbrough and Charlton Athletic, with Akpom doing little to contribute in either.

Chuba Akpom has struggled since joining Ipswich Town, with Birmingham City potentially dodging a bullet

Akpom has made seven appearances upon his return to Championship football with Ipswich, with just three of those being starts, as Sammie Szmodics has been largely preferred in the number ten role behind the main striker.

He has yet to score or assist for his new club, and Ipswich fans will be disappointed as to how the deal has worked out, whilst Birmingham fans will be watching on with glee, having narrowly missed out on his signature - even if their own marquee attacking signings in Kyogo Furuhashi and Marvin Ducksch both haven't made an impact yet at St. Andrew's.

Akpom revealed that he was close to joining Blues ahead of Ipswich, telling the East Anglian Times: "Look, it’s no secret, there have been so many leaks, I was close to joining Birmingham.

"I had some interest from the Premier League and other top divisions, but once I decided that I wanted to come back to the Champ I always had my mind set on Ipswich. I was 100% certain that if they wanted me then I’d go there.

"Fortunately, they came in at the last moment. Once it was all signed and done I was so glad just to focus on playing football."

Expectations were placed high on Ipswich ahead of this season, have kept a large core of their squad from their relegation from the Premier League last season and added the likes of Azor Matusiwa, Cedric Kipre and Marcelino Nunez to their ranks.

So far, they have yet to get going well and truly get going, as with Akpom, and manager Kieran McKenna must find a way to get his side, and Akpom, firing before too long, otherwise he may face pressure for the first time in his tenure since taking charge in 2021.