Biography
Young striker Akpom joined City in August 2015 on a season long loan. His intense style endeared many but seemed to get in the way of good form at times, and his scoring record was erratic. His finest day was a FA Cup tie at Bury where he bagged a hattrick. By the end of the season he was playing a support role, only making one substitute appearance during the play-offs.
Born in Canning Town in the London docklands to Nigerian parents, Chuba Amechi Akpom joined Arsenal as a child and spent his entire youth career with the Gunners. He made his league debut for Arsenal as a 17 year old, then gained further first team experience during loan spells at Brentford, Coventry City and Nottingham Forest, adding 17 loan appearances to the 12 senior appearances he made for his parent club.
Following his season at the KC Stadium, Akpom returned to Arsenal then spent the second half of the 2016/17 season on loan at Brighton, where he made little impact in 10 first team appearances. He was again loaned out in January 2018 to Belgian side Sint-Truiden, scoring six goals in 16 appearances.
In August 2018 Akpom left the Gunners, signing for Greek side PAOK of Thessaloniki – his questionable self-image was demonstrated when he took the number 47 shirt at PAOK and publicised the hashtag “AK47” on Twitter. However he settled in Greece and by August 2020 he was playing in the Champions League for PAOK after his team finished runners-up in the Greek Super League, scoring eighteen times in 79 appearances for the Greek side including an August 2019 Champions League goal against Ajax Amsterdam.
In September 2020 this form led to a return to England when Akpom signed for Championship side Middlesbrough. His first season at the Riverside yielded a modest five goals from 39 appearances, despite scoring on his debut against QPR and the following match against Barnsley. In August 2021 Chuba returned to PAOK on a season long loan where he scored eleven goals in 52 appearances including two goals in the Europa Conference League. Akpom returned to the Middlesbrough first team at the start of the 2022/23 season and found a rich vein of form, scoring 29 goals as Boro qualified for the Championship play-offs only to lose narrowly to Coventry City at the semi-final stage. Cashing in on his increased profile, Akpom joined Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam in August 2023 for a £10.5 million fee that pleased both player and club.
After making a slow start to the 2023/24 season following his September 2023 debut against Fortuna Sittard, Akpom scored his first goal in November 2023 against FC Volendam and ended his first season with an impressive 15 goals in 36 appearances.
Akpom won international honours for England at under-16, under-17, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels, scoring regularly at each level.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 9 October 1995, Canning Town
Hull City First Game: 8 August 2015, Huddersfield Town H (Championship), 19 years, 303 days old
Hull City Final Game: 14 May 2016, Derby County (Championship Play Off Semi Final First Leg), 20 years, 218 days old
Clubs
Arsenal (2012-2018), Brentford (2014, loan), Coventry City (2014, loan), Nottingham Forest (2015, loan), Hull City (2015-2016, loan), Brighton & Hove Albion (2017, loan), Sint-Truiden (2018, loan), PAOK (2018-2020), Middlesbrough 2020-2023), PAOK (2021-2022, loan), Ajax Amsterdam (2023-current)
Hull City Record
Career: 41 apps, 7 goals
Chuba Akpom| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015/16 | 19 (16) | 3 | 1 (0) | 3 | 2 (2) | 1 | - | - | 0 (1) | 0 |