Birmingham City suffer big Chuba Akpom blow as new Ipswich Town twist revealed | OneFootball

The Akpom transfer saga looks finally set to be over

The Chuba Akpom transfer saga that has lasted for a number of days looks as though it has finally come to a head, with Ipswich Town set to win the battle for his services.

The 29-year-old has been a man in-demand with Championship clubs, having fallen out of favour with Dutch giants Ajax since last season after they shipped him out midway through the campaign on loan to French outfit Lille.

There have been more twists and turns in Akpom's saga than an Alton Towers rollercoaster, but ahead of the Championship season kicking off this coming weekend, his future is now set to be decided with a move to one of the second tier's powerhouses.

Ipswich Town set to win Chuba Akpom transfer battle over Birmingham City

Over the past weekend, Birmingham City were the first side who were looking to strike a deal for Arsenal academy graduate Akpom, and it appeared that things were moving quickly.

That move though by Blues was hijacked by Akpom's former club Middlesbrough, who wanted the attacker to rejoin the Teessiders to bolster their own attacking options.

It appeared as though Rob Edwards' side were too late to the party though as Akpom had agreed to join Birmingham, but in another twist, Ipswich Town entered the mix.

A loan deal with an obligation to buy for £7 million in the event of promotion back to the Premier League was agreed with the Tractor Boys, much like it was with Birmingham, but with the latter coming back with a fully permanent offer of £6 million for Akpom's services, his current club Ajax's preference was for him to head to St. Andrew's.

However, with Akpom's heart set on a switch to Suffolk, Birmingham have now pulled out of a deal for the forward, as per Sky Sports' latest update, leaving Ipswich now in the clear to complete a deal ahead of their first game of the 2025-26 Championship season on Friday evening - coincidentally which is a trip to face Chris Davies' side in the Midlands.

Birmingham are on the verge of landing Werder Bremen attacker Marvin Ducksch as an alternative to Akpom at the top end of the pitch, as exclusively revealed by FLW, at the same time as Kieran McKenna gets his man.

An out-and-out striker earlier in his career, Akpom's best ever season came with Middlesbrough in 2022-23, where he played in the number 10 role to great effect, scoring 28 Championship goals in what was a breakout year.

That got him a move to Ajax, where he played in a number of different roles, including as a number nine and also out wide as a left winger, but he's had a stop-start time in Amsterdam as he was in and out of the team prior to his loan switch to Lille in 2024-25.

Ipswich though could give Akpom a new lease of life, but if he's going to play in the position that he thrived in at Middlesbrough, then there is a certain Sammie Szmodics in his way for first-team football, as well as Conor Chaplin's presence.

You'd expect the physical presence of George Hirst right now to lead the line for McKenna instead of a player like Akpom, whilst Town are also well-stocked out wide, so there will likely not be immediate starts for the former England youth international - over the course of a season though, expect him to make his presence felt in East Anglia.