How Chuba Akpom feels about joining Ipswich Town over Birmingham City | OneFootball

The two clubs are fiercely in battle to sign the Ajax attacker.

Ipswich Town and Birmingham City are locked in a tug-of-war over Ajax's Chuba Akpom, with the player preferring the move to East Anglia, while his club would rather accept the offer tabled to them by the Midlanders.

This transfer saga has gone back and forth over the last day since Ipswich's interest in the 29-year-old Ajax forward was first revealed.

He was due to travel to Birmingham to undergo a medical with the League One champions before the Tractor Boys made a last-ditch proposal that has seemingly swung Akpom towards linking up with Kieran McKenna.

The former Arsenal and Middlesbrough forward then travelled to Ipswich on Monday evening to complete a physical examination with Town, which he passed, but Chris Davies' side have launched their own counter-attack.

Chuba Akpom's transfer preference revealed as Birmingham try to one-up Ipswich

Both clubs made loan offers to Ajax which included clauses that would see them pay £7 million to the Dutch club if they win promotion to the Premier League this season.

Now Birmingham are in talks with them over a permanent deal for the player, who the Netherlands-based team paid £12.3 million for a couple of summers ago.

According to Anthony Joseph, Blues would be willing to pay Ajax £6 million to beat their second-tier rivals to Akpom.

Of course, amid all of this, there is the player's preference. He is leaning towards joining the Tractor Boys, as per Ben Jacobs, but his parent club would rather accept the purchase offer that has been put to them by Davies' club.

Until the 29-year-old gives his approval, no transfer will go through, which could end up being a sticking point for City.

Birmingham and Ipswich could be locked in a war beyond the Akpom saga

The two clubs are set to face each other in the first match of the new Championship season on Friday night, at St Andrew's. They both have promotion aspirations, hence the £7 million mandatory buy clause in the original offers for Akpom, and this battle in the transfer market should only make the contest more of an intense affair.

Ipswich have needed a goalscoring option like the former Boro man ever since Liam Delap left Portman Road earlier this summer to join Chelsea. Birmingham, on the other hand, are fairly loaded with number nines and other attacking resources, which may be what is swaying Akpom towards the move to East Anglia.

Whichever way he ends up going, this mini-transfer battle could be the start of something bigger between these loaded American-owned sides; something that could play out right across the 2025/26 campaign.