A year ago, LOSC was looking for an attacker to accompany or even compete with Jonathan David. After exploring numerous avenues during the month of January, the northern leaders ended up setting their sights on Chuba Akpom, on loan from Ajax.
A winding path
Rarely inspired in recent seasons during the winter transfer window, LOSC also did not smell the right move by attracting Chuba Akpom in the final hours of the transfer market last February. Lacking playing time at Ajax, the Arsenal-trained striker still had good odds on the transfer market, due to a fantastic 2022/2023 season with Middlesbrough, where he scored 29 goals in 42 games in all competitions.
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And despite limited playing time with Ajax, the club he preferred to join at the expense of RC Lens in the summer of 2023, Chuba Akpom remained effective with 15 goals scored in total during the 2023/2024 season. The rest was less convincing until his arrival on loan at LOSC in February 2025. With 16 matches under his belt in just over three months, the English striker managed to shake the net 3 times without forgetting 1 assist to his credit. But again, it was mainly off the bench, in the shadow of Jonathan David.
A failed rebound in England
Therefore, LOSC decided not to exercise the purchase option associated with its loan. And despite the instability on the sidelines of Ajax, the club to which he is contractually linked until June 2028, Chuba Akpom was still invited to look elsewhere. Loaned with a purchase option conditional on his performances at Ipswich, residents of the Championship, the former Mastiff fails to regain his best form. Rarely a starter (6 times out of 20), he only has one goal and one assist halfway through the championship.
Worse still, he hasn’t come off the bench in two of Ipswich’s last four games. From there to think that the club is already starting to regulate its playing time to avoid activating the purchase option associated with its loan? This theory is mentioned across the Channel. What is certain is that Chuba Akpom is far from the level of performance which had led LOSC to be interested in him in the past. And at 30 years old, it is not certain that things will improve in the coming months.
Photo credits: Christophe Saidi/FEP/Icon Sport
