Glenn Murray says Chuba Akpom is now a ‘different player’ at promotion-chasers Middlesbrough in the Championship after he felt that he ‘wasn’t good enough for Arsenal’.
The 27-year-old came through the ranks at Hale-End and he made 12 appearances under the legendary Arsene Wenger, before departing his boyhood club in 2018.
Whilst the likes of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who is still on Arsenal’s books, and Joe Willock, now at Newcastle United, starred in the first team even further, it was struggle after struggle for Akpom away from the Premier League spotlight.
When Akpom was at Arsenal, whilst he dominated the younger age groups with his power and raw pace, he failed to score for the first team and that followed him during many loan spells.
In 2017, whilst still at Arsenal, Akpom played for then-Championship side Brighton and Hove Albion, where in ten appearances, he failed to score.
A certain now-retired striker, Glenn Murray, was a senior player at the Amex Stadium back then and he shared how Akpom has now transformed his game, as he told Sky Sports News.
“There were massive things expected of Akpom as a youngster and he came to Brighton and he didn’t really deliver,” said Murray.
“But I can understand, as a striker, you want to be loved, more than anyone else on the field. A striker wants to be loved by his manager and his fans. You can see some of his goals. That’s why they do love him up on Teesside.
“He couldn’t find a home when he was a young lad. I don’t think you could see that clear pathway way at Arsenal. He probably never believed he was going to be quite good enough to get into their first team on a regular basis (at Arsenal).
“He went out on loan. I think he went out on five loans and only scored three goals. All that time, your confidence is just drifting away and drifting away. He took himself out of the limelight, he went abroad and rediscovered himself. Then you come back a different player.”
ALONG CAME BORO…
It just goes to show, you can have so much promise as a kid, but it still might take a lot of years before you seriously start to hit your strides.
That’s been the case with Akpom, who at 27, is the top scorer in the Championship for Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough, who are pushing for promotion to the Premier League.
From Akpom’s 30 league games this season, he has bagged 23 goals, and with nine games still left and Carrick’s men still hunting down Sheffield United for an automatic spot, don’t rule out the former Hale-End star hitting the 30 goal mark.
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