Chuba interesting Palace, Saints and Everton !

I can’t see us selling yet, would be a very bad signal to carrick and the squad and others will expect/look for exits. If we intend to keep Jones this window we shouldn’t sell Chuba. Squad harmony is the vital ingredient and this is the first time we’ve had it since Aitor took us up.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
Let's pick three teams who need a goal scorer, link them with the Championship top scorer and create a story out of it.

I could have written that.
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Exactly.

I'm sure he'll be "interesting" a lot of clubs. As will all the other top performers in the championship. Doesn't mean they're available or that clubs are preparing huge bids for them. More likely they'll just be "monitoring the situation" to use another go to phrase the hacks like to use.
 
Nobby_Barnes said:
From one of the more respected newspapers...

www.dailymail.co.uk

Chuba Akpom is being chased by Crystal Palace, Everton and Southampton

ADRIAN KAJUMBA: Former Arsenal youngster Akpom, 27, has fired himself into contention for a top-flight return thanks to his impressive form at the Riverside this season.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
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I'll 'respect' your 'newspaper' if you're not careful, Nobby. That sentence doesn't make any sense but it does sound suitably threatening if you say it in my voice.
 
I think Chuba will easily break 20 goals this season. If that happens his value will be higher than a 13 goal striker in January.
Now is a time to strengthen to capitalise on our momentum, not grab at the first bid that comes along. Especially after the summer transfer surplus.
 
indeedido said:
I think Chuba will easily break 20 goals this season. If that happens his value will be higher than a 13 goal striker in January.
Now is a time to strengthen to capitalise on our momentum, not grab at the first bid that comes along. Especially after the summer transfer surplus.
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It all depends. A striker with 18 months left attracts a higher value than a striker with 12 months left
 
ForssAwakens said:
It would be hard to turn down anything over 15 million let’s be honest
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Every player has a price, but I'd suspect his value to us mid season is far more than 15m. Too much disruption to the team, manager and fan base. If he carries on like this and scores 25 goals but we don't gain promotion, then I'd guess there will be prem offers incoming, and probably in excess of 15m.

In that situation I wouldn't blame the club for cashing in with 1 year left, or blame a 27/28 year old player for taking the offer as it would give him his big pay day.

However, looking at how happy and proud he is playing in this team, I'd suspect he would much rather get a pay day from gaining promotion with us and playing in the prem than jump up to the prem, play for 4 months then get relegated.
 
Chuba is now clear at the top of the championship top scorers list

Of course PL clubs are looking at him: they always look at the man in that position.

However, I doubt any will make a move.
They'll rightly ask if his current good form is just a purple patch after years of indifference. If I were Southampton, I wouldn't bet on him firing us to safety.

And, at 27, he's a bit old to be a project.

So, as one for now or one for the future, he's not really a good bet. Suits us just fine of he stays where he is.
 
Frozen Horse said:
If I were Southampton, I wouldn't bet on him firing us to safety.
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Exactly this. They've already got Adam Armstrong, who most on here were absolutely desperate for us to somehow tempt back up north during the summer. There's more to a Premier League rescue act than bagging a hat-trick against a really poor Wigan side.

Chuba's been great for us, if there's genuine interest then we deal with it when it happens, but the idea that he's every bottom half PL team's #1 target is insane.
 
Frozen Horse said:
Chuba is now clear at the top of the championship top scorers list

Of course PL clubs are looking at him: they always look at the man in that position.

However, I doubt any will make a move.
They'll rightly ask if his current good form is just a purple patch after years of indifference. If I were Southampton, I wouldn't bet on him firing us to safety.

And, at 27, he's a bit old to be a project.

So, as one for now or one for the future, he's not really a good bet. Suits us just fine of he stays where he is.
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Exactly. I think there's actually a fair chance he signs a contract extension in the summer. Not many strikers get their big transfer to the prem from the championship at 27/28. Those who do get a chance at that age tend to do it by getting promoted with their club.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a good striker hang around for a few years (as opposed to rubbish ones we can't get rid of). Could be a regular for the next 5 years potentially.

Think of the money we'd save by not continuously ******* it up the wall every season looking for that fabled goalscorer.
 
How much is promotion worth - £200m?

Our odds for promotion are 10/3 i.e 23% - if Chuba went those odds would drop. Chuba at present has found his niche as a deep lying forward

We are currently seen as the third favourites - in money/risk terms thats worth £46m.
 
A lot of what is written in the Press is just conjecture, journalists putting 2+2 together to equal 5, the downside of this is it can impact on the form and performances of those implied in the articles, heads get turned and focus drifts, it creates an environment of uncertainty in which nobody prospers.

Akpom is an interesting one, he's already on a Premier League wage, 26k a week I believe, and the Boro as a club haven't exactly covered themselves in glory with the way he's been treated, I'd heard that they had no contact with Akpom during his loan spell at PAOK and that Wilder was told to offload him because of his wages.

I would imagine any loyalty Akpom has would be to Carrick rather than the club and I'm really surprised that given his birthplace, their previous interest and his area of upbringing that West Ham aren't being linked with him more strongly in the press, speculative journalism isn't what it used to be.
 
American_Mary said:
I would imagine any loyalty Akpom has would be to Carrick rather than the club and I'm really surprised that given his birthplace, their previous interest and his area of upbringing that West Ham aren't being linked with him more strongly in the press, speculative journalism isn't what it used to be.
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He does seem to be really enjoying his football now though and although I'm not one for badge kissing, he does seem passionate about the club pointing to the badge continually. This is the most successful period of his career, and probably the first time he's felt loved by the fans, but it is only 6 months, for any lower prem side to offer 40/k and a 15m wage is unlikely on just 20 good games at his age. It would be a near 25m (4year) commitment for any club wanting him, with little chance of any return on that.
 
It's a tricky one, because it may be that he has genuinely peaked and is benefiting from playing under a manager who 'gets him'.

At the same time though, it may just be that he has hit a purple patch. Is he going to score 20 goals for the next few seasons now, or will he return to type next season? We would feel pretty gutted if he did, after we'd turned down an offer of say £15m for him.

I'd say we have to take the gamble though and for now we have to assume that he will be able to maintain these levels of performances. I don't think we should sell.
 
Personally I think his 'non-scoring striker' tag was over played.

13/14 (age 18) he went on loan to Brentford. 5 starts and 5 sub appearances at CF, plus 1 league cup sub. 502mins of football, but he was very, very young

14/15 (age 19) 27 prem league mins for arsenal, with 1 assist. Then off to Forest, 4 starts as a striker and 1 as a winger. Still just a kid though

15/16 (age 20) 3 goals in 19 starts at CF for Wolves. Fair to say goals weren't natural for him, but again, just 20 year old.

16/17 (age 21) Brighton on loan, only started 1 league match and one LC game.

17/18 (age 22) off to Belgium and this is where he starts to mature with 6 goals in 13 starts.

18/19 (age 23) this is where you expect a player to start to show some maturity. 8 goals in 19 starts in Greece with another 5 assists. For the second season running he's a goal every two starts.

19/20 (age 24) 22 starts 10 goals and 3 assists in Greece. He's moved permanent but, they kept him as an impact sub for half a season. When they started to play him, he became their main man.

20/21 (age 25) Has a dodgy first season with us with just 5 goals and 2 assists in 21 starts. It's the first time his goal scoring ratio has been poor in 5 years.

21/22 (age 26) 11 goals in 33 starts in Greece

22/23 (age 27) back in Boro and 13 goals in 16 starts.

He's clearly having great goalscoring form, above and beyond before, but his lack of goals was exaggerated by looking at total appearances not starts, and excluding anything not in England. Before this season he had 41 goals in 122 starts. This maybe an anomaly of a season but he will get 10-15 goals if you play him every week at this level.

Since he turned 22 it's even better, 53 goals in 124 starts, a goa every 2 1/2 games.
 
Obviously I'd rather we didn't sell him but if someone made a silly offer I could understand why we would take it, it's the first real purple patch in his career so it would make sense to sell high.

Not a bad problem to have though, players in form and prem clubs wanting to pay daft money for them.
 
BoroMart said:
Personally I think his 'non-scoring striker' tag was over played.

13/14 (age 18) he went on loan to Brentford. 5 starts and 5 sub appearances at CF, plus 1 league cup sub. 502mins of football, but he was very, very young

14/15 (age 19) 27 prem league mins for arsenal, with 1 assist. Then off to Forest, 4 starts as a striker and 1 as a winger. Still just a kid though

15/16 (age 20) 3 goals in 19 starts at CF for Wolves. Fair to say goals weren't natural for him, but again, just 20 year old.

16/17 (age 21) Brighton on loan, only started 1 league match and one LC game.

17/18 (age 22) off to Belgium and this is where he starts to mature with 6 goals in 13 starts.

18/19 (age 23) this is where you expect a player to start to show some maturity. 8 goals in 19 starts in Greece with another 5 assists. For the second season running he's a goal every two starts.

19/20 (age 24) 22 starts 10 goals and 3 assists in Greece. He's moved permanent but, they kept him as an impact sub for half a season. When they started to play him, he became their main man.

20/21 (age 25) Has a dodgy first season with us with just 5 goals and 2 assists in 21 starts. It's the first time his goal scoring ratio has been poor in 5 years.

21/22 (age 26) 11 goals in 33 starts in Greece

22/23 (age 27) back in Boro and 13 goals in 16 starts.

He's clearly having great goalscoring form, above and beyond before, but his lack of goals was exaggerated by looking at total appearances not starts, and excluding anything not in England. Before this season he had 41 goals in 122 starts. This maybe an anomaly of a season but he will get 10-15 goals if you play him every week at this level.

Since he turned 22 it's even better, 53 goals in 124 starts, a goa every 2 1/2 games.
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Spot on...a non scoring young lad, who was farmed out on loan all over the place. In Greece he did well. As you say, scoring wise, this is a purple patch, but he is way better than what is suggested by just looking at his stats as a young loanee
 
Chuba stated recently he's been a bit of a footballing nomad & wants to find somewhere to call 'home' where he feels he belongs... I'd say we are it, esp now we have Carrick in charge at the start of his managerial career.

MC could be here for another 2-3 promotion, PL establish & maybe cup run glory years / seasons... similar to the Robbo / McClaren years... who would not want to be part of that?? He's at his peak now & he's found a club where he can really be part of something & enjoy his football too..

The thought of a bigger contract at a non-challenging PL club is no ambition or appeal to what he can get in a competitive league & new exciting era at Boro (OK i'm biased though that is how I view it)

He can get a new improved contract with us, live in a fabulous location (esp with his £) & really set about creating a legacy that few players ever get the chance to do: fire us to promotion, establish us in PL & chase a cup or two.. you never know in years to come he may even get a statue on a plinth..
 
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