Birmingham City boss Chris Davies, in his first press conference ahead of the new season, addressed questions concerning his side’s pursuit for Super Eagles hopeful Chuba Akpom amid rival interest from fellow EFL Championship club Ipswich Town, Footynaija.com reports.
The Ajax outcast appeared to be on the verge of a move to Birmingham before Ipswich seemingly stepped in to hijack the transfer. As per reports, with the offer of a season-long loan spell on the table from both clubs, Akpom abandoned the Blues for the Tractor Boys.
However, things took an interesting turn when Birmingham City, seemingly determined to win this particular battle, offered an outright purchase of the 29-year-old.
While this proposition was welcomed by Ajax, given their strong desire to permanently offload the Hale End Academy graduate, Akpom is standing his ground and prioritising a move to Portman Road.
Pressed for an update on the situation, Davies told reporters in a press conference: “With Chuba Akpom in particular, I am aware there has been a lot of talk around him.
“From our point of view, he’s a player we know, a good player absolutely, but not someone I can go into specifics on because he’s an Ajax player right now. All I can say is there’s always a lot of moving parts when you’re looking to bring players in. Is it a player that you want? Is it going to work? And will it all be right? You look at everything.
“And obviously, amongst that we’ve got a really good recruitment team that have delivered a lot of really good options so we’re looking to add to the squad. Definitely, we need to add to the squad, no doubt about that.
“I wouldn’t want to go into specifics out of respect to Ajax, who own the player. But from our point of view, we’re clear on what we’re doing. I don’t want to sit here and talk about players that don’t belong to us. We’ve been pretty clear all along about the players that we really want, and that hasn’t wavered for me.”
It’s looking increasingly likely that Ipswich Town will win this tussle. But it is unlikely that Akpom will arrive in time to play a part when both sides lock horns in their EFL Championship opener on Friday, August 8.