Chuba Akpom

Chuba Amechi Akpom (born 9 October 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Ajax.

He made his debut for the Arsenal U18 side at the age of 15, and signed his first professional contract with Arsenal on 10 October 2012, a day after turning 17.

In December 2012, Akpom received his first call into the Arsenal senior squad, when he was an unused substitute for a 2–1 Champions League defeat to Olympiakos.

He made 20 U21 Premier League appearances during the 2012–13 season and scored 13 goals, including 10 goals in 10 games in the Elite Group stage.

Akpom began his career at Arsenal, making his senior debut in 2013.

Whilst at Arsenal, he had loan periods with English clubs Brentford, Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, Hull City, Brighton and Belgian club Sint-Truiden.

In the lead-up to the 2013–14 season, Akpom was selected for Arsenal's pre-season tour of Asia and scored once in a 7–0 win against an Indonesia Dream Team, two more in a 7–1 win against Vietnam and another in Arsenal's final game of the tour against Urawa Red Diamonds.

Akpom made his competitive debut in a 3–1 Premier League win over Sunderland on 14 September 2013.

He came on in the third minute of injury time as a substitute for the injured Olivier Giroud.

Akpom's second Arsenal appearance came in a League Cup third round tie away to West Bromwich Albion on 25 September.

He replaced goalscorer Thomas Eisfeld after 82 minutes and with the scores at 1–1 at full-time, the game entered extra time.

Akpom played the full scoreless extra time period and scored Arsenal's third penalty in the ensuing shootout, helping Arsenal to a win.

He scored three goals in four UEFA Youth League appearances towards the end of 2013.

On 30 December 2013, it was reported that League One sides Brentford, Peterborough United, Leyton Orient and Milton Keynes Dons were in a four-way battle to sign Akpom on loan.

Brentford emerged as the favourites to land Akpom, due to the club's head of recruitment, Shaun O'Connor, having originally signed Akpom while working for Arsenal.

Akpom scored a hattrick in a 6–1 FA Youth Cup fourth round demolition of Peterborough United on 6 January 2014.

The loan was thrown into doubt due to injuries suffered by Arsenal strikers Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner in early January 2014, but was completed on 9 January, with Akpom signing for a month.

Manager Mark Warburton said "Chuba is strong and quick, with a very good first touch. He's greedy and enjoys scoring goals. It's his first loan spell and League One is tough, so he might take some time to adapt. It's a big jump from Under 21 football".

He missed the first match of his loan through illness and Warburton stressed that Akpom would have to "work hard and earn his place like everyone else".

Akpom made his debut in a 1–1 league draw at Walsall on 19 January.

He came on for Will Grigg after 68 minutes and provided a cross for Clayton Donaldson in the dying moments, which went unconverted.

After making four substitute appearances, his loan spell ended and he returned to Arsenal.

Following the return to Arsenal, Akpom appeared on Arsenal Magazine about his time at Brentford for the March issue.

On 14 February 2014, Akpom joined League One side Coventry City on loan until the end of the 2013–14 season, with an agreement that he would rejoin the Arsenal squad for games in the FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League during the course of the loan.

He made six appearances.

Akpom began the 2014–15 season by scoring a hat trick for Arsenal in an Under-21 Premier League Division 2 game against West Bromwich Albion at the end of August.

On 23 September 2014, he made his first senior appearance of the season, replacing Héctor Bellerín for the last four minutes as Arsenal lost 1–2 at home against Southampton in the League Cup.

He made his first Premier League appearance of the season against Southampton on New Year's Day 2015.

Akpom made a telling contribution to Arsenal's 5–0 home win against Aston Villa, coming on as a second-half substitute and winning a penalty, converted by Santi Cazorla, his first assist for the club.

On 4 February 2015, Akpom spurned the interest of a number of other clubs from the Premier League and across Europe to sign a new 4 1⁄2-year contract with Arsenal.

On 26 March 2015, he joined Championship club Nottingham Forest on loan till 31 May 2015.

He made seven appearances.

On 4 August 2015, Akpom joined Championship side Hull City on a season-long loan.

In 2018, he signed for Greek club PAOK for an undisclosed fee.

He is considered a club icon at PAOK, being a vital part in the double-winning squad of 2018–19, scoring crucial goals, including the only goal in the 2019 Greek Cup Final.

Born in London to Nigerian parents, Akpom is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Nigeria.

He has represented England at youth and under-21 international levels and in 2019, he announced he switched his international allegiance to represent Nigeria for future games.

Akpom joined Arsenal at the age of six.

After a successful spell at PAOK, he moved to Middlesbrough in 2020.

In 2021, he returned to PAOK on loan.