PAOK Saloniki of Greece, Chuba Akpom could become the next Nigerian player to feature for Fernebahce of Turkey, as reports out of The Land of The Ottoman reveal that the former Arsenal of England youth team player is is attracting interest from the Turkish Super Lig outfit, megasportsarena.com reports.
Fernebahce have a strong Nigerian connection, dating back to the days of Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, Ikechukwu Uche, Emmanuel Emenike, Michael Eneramo, Joseph Yobo and Victor Moses in their squads over the years, and Akpom is bound to join the rundown this summer.
This is sequel to reports that The Yellow Canaries have already started talks with Akpom’s camp, with a potentially tempting offer to lure him into making a summer transfer that will take him away from Saloniki, where he enjoyed a massive leap this season.
The former England youth-teamer, who last year switched allegiance to play for the Super Eagles at full international level, has entered the final year of his contract with PAOK, which he joined in a full transfer from Arsenal in 2018; but he could now be on his way to Istanbul pretty soon.
That is due to pressure being mounted by Fernebahce on the barrel-chested lad, who has made 74 appearances for PAOK since his arrival, scoring 18 goals and won the Greek Cup and Super League double with them during the 2018/19 season.
Before he made the move to PAOK, the London-born striker played on loan at Sint-Truidense VV of Belgium, at a point he dilly-dallied over leaving Arsenal or not, until he realized that he had to take a step of faith and courage in a full contract elsewhere to boost his career progression.
Akpom, whose current market value is 2.4 million euros, had loan spells at Brentford, Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, Hull City and Brighton & Hove during his time with Arsenal, but his first full transfer took him out of England and he now appears to be on the move once again.
Meanwhile, one of the younger players that used to look of to Akpom during his budding days at Emirates Stadium, Joseph Olowu, who is currently on loan at Cork City of Ireland, has been cited by an opponent as the strongest player in the Arsenal Academy.
This is the verdict of Liverpool youth team defender, Zech Medley, who told Aidan Small that the strongest player around Arsenal’s academy is Olowu, and he declared his admiration for the Nigerian-born lad in the official programme for Wednesday night’s clash between both sides.
Olowu, who was a key player in The Gunners’ under-23 squad, would have been in contention to train with Arsenal’s first team after the season restarted had he not been loaned out to Cork City in the winter transfer market and the deal was recently extended until the end of the season.
Despite his absence from The Gunners’ squad, Olowu is still attracting attention from Medley, who noted that the Nigerian-born lad is capable of playing as a right-back and defensive midfielder.
Olowu, who had also previously partnered Medley in central defense on a number of occasions, was spotted by an Arsenal scout while undergoing trials with Charlton Athletic and joined the north London club at U14 level.
