Ipswich Town make blockbuster move to hijack £7m Birmingham City transfer deal | OneFootball

Could Chuba Akpom now be heading to Suffolk?

Ipswich Town have made a stunning last-minute approach to Dutch giants Ajax in an attempt to sign forward Chuba Akpom.

The Tractor Boys are gearing up for their return to the Championship after one year away in the Premier League, but they are seriously lacking in depth in the centre-forward position after Liam Delap's move to Chelsea.

At this moment in time, Kieran McKenna will have just George Hirst and Ali Al-Hamadi to call upon for Friday night's trip to Birmingham City, but they are now trying to beat Chris Davies' side to a marquee transfer deal.

Ipswich Town make late move to sign Chuba Akpom after Birmingham City deal agreed

Akpom has been at the centre of plenty of transfer drama over the weekend following initial news of Birmingham City's interest in the former Arsenal man, with Blues wanting to add the 29-year-old to their already star-studded attacking unit.

However, on Sunday, it was reported by The Northern Echo that Middlesbrough were pushing to re-sign the player they sold to Ajax two years ago, and that they were aiming to gazump Birmingham to his services.

It appeared though by Sunday night that Boro had left it too late to bring Akpom back to Teesside, with Sky Sports reporting that the attacker was still set to join Birmingham this week, with a medical pencilled in for Monday.

A new fresh transfer twist has emerged though, with Sky Sports now claiming that another Championship club in the form of Ipswich Town are now keen on Akpom's services, and they have made an approach to the Amsterdam-based outfit to try and bring him to Portman Road, although Middlesbrough and Greek outfit Olympiakos are also still trying to make deals of their own happen.

Akpom made the move to the Johan Cruyff Arena in August 2023 for an initial fee of €12 million, having plundered 29 goals for Middlesbrough in the 2022-23 season, but it hasn't quite worked out in the Netherlands.

Whilst he scored 15 times in all competitions in his first Ajax season, Akpom ended up being loaned out to Lille of Ligue 1 in the January transfer window of 2025, where he scored three times in the French top tier before returning to his parent club.

Chuba Akpom transfer twist adds some serious spice to Birmingham City v Ipswich Town on Friday night

It's not a shock to see Akpom in-demand with Championship clubs given his exploits the last time he was in England, with many teams believing he has the X-factor at the top end of the pitch.

Akpom's 2022-23 season at the Riverside Stadium was somewhat of an outlier in his entire career as it was the first time he showed to be a prolific force of nature, although his 15-goal haul for Ajax the following year was a decent return too.

Birmingham would have thought they'd got the Akpom deal over the line with the medical scheduled for Monday, but Ipswich's interest now poses a fresh issue, as they could provide a more enticing project under Kieran McKenna.

With both clubs coming face-to-face at St. Andrew's this coming Friday evening, Akpom could theoretically be lining up for either side at this point - it will be interesting to see who wins the battle for his services and it certainly adds a new element of intrigue to the fixture.