Akpom - Outcast to Goal Machine The Times

Top, top player. His potential to be this good was clearly always there, just never landed at the right club for it to click.

It's surely no coincidence that he is now thriving in a calm and assured 'Wenger' type environment, laid out by Carrick, which had helped to nurture him throughout his early years at Arsenal.

Fingers crossed he signs a new deal.
 
Really hope his fortunes have changed... he has looked consistantly good this season and more since carrick came
 
Confidence player. Which is no bad thing if the management know that.

Such a great feel good story for the club. I hope that he just carries on doing what he is doing and does not get distracted by goal tallies or scoring stats etc.
 
Young players playing for the top club's academies tend to be either technically very good or physically very good. Akpom is obviously a technically very good player, you don't tend to lose that but having the confidence in yourself to show those abilities instead of just playing the safe/easy pass can be all that needs to change. The mindset of not making mistakes vs trying to do something special is a difficult one. I think Jones is struggling with that at the moment. Last season he wanted to impress everyone every time he got the ball so he'd beat his man. This season he doesn't want to lose the ball so he's stopped doing what he is best at. He needs to be fearless again, or at least comfortable in the knowledge that he has the ability and it's ok for it not to work every time.

There is also a big step up between kids and adults football and maybe it took Akpom a while to get used to the physical side to allow him to utilise his technical abilities. That's one of the things that was so obvious last season with Balogun. He's clearly a technically very good player but he needs to improve his physicality to deal with adult defenders.

Chuba is clearly playing with loads of confidence and just enjoying things and it is great to see. Hopefully he gets his 20th tomorrow so it doesn't hang over him for too long and then he can go on and smash that number for the remainder of the season. Will be nice to see him putting his 30th away at Wembley to secure promotion.
 
Treated shabbily to begin with. I wonder how many talented players go through this 'Hoop Dreams' experience and end up nowhere?
 
loved it at Blackpool away after scored he seemed quite emotional after he scored and the fans were cheering him, he mentioned in another interview that he just wanted to be part of the team and appreciated (paraphrasing) brilliant that he has found it at the Boro
 
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