Brighton & Hove Albion have been sitting at the summit of Championship table, two points ahead of second-placed Newcastle United. The Seagulls are likely to finish this term in the top two which would hand them an automatic qualification to the Premier League. Chris Hughton hasn’t had the busiest of transfer windows but they have brought in a promising youngster on loan for the rest of the season to deepen their attacking weaponry.
Chuba Akpom, one of the heartthrobs of the Arsenal faithful, has been signed by the Sussex-based club to bolster their forward line. The Arsenal academy product had helped Hull City last season in the Championship to earn them a promotion as he bagged 7 goals in 22 starts for the Tigers. The promising attacker has accumulated plenty of experience whilst plying his trade at Brentford, Coventry, Nottingham Forest and Hull City on loan and he would definitely be a welcome signing for Hughton’s outfit who are now having a youngster with tremendous potential up front in their ranks.
Nonetheless, it might be the make or break season for Akpom who was undoubtedly going to be overlooked by Arsene Wenger at Arsenal owing to the plethora of stars in the attacking setup that the Gunners boast of. The likes of Olivier Giroud, Lucas Perez, Danny Welbeck and even Alexis Sanchez, who has been frequently used up front, are in red-hot form, implying that it would be next to impossible for the 21-year-old to break into starting eleven.
However, Akpom was a tad unlucky this season, for his progress was stalled by back injury when the other top quality players weren’t really available. The squandering of what could have been a real opportunity for him meant that he was destined to be sidelined. So, a loan move to the Falmer Stadium could be a boon. He is to compete with Glenn Murray for the starting berth, and that won’t be easy considering the form the veteran is in.
The young gun is a decent striker: he scores, creates chances, has an excellent passing range and a good burst of pace to hassle the defenders. This would be Akpom’s fifth loan spell and with the likes of Alex Iwobi and Hector Bellerin very much in the first team plans of Wenger, it is high time for him to deliver and make the grade at the senior side of the North London based club.
