- Sven Mislintat, Ajax’s director of football, almost signed Chuba Akpom from Arsenal when he was 19 due to his versatility and qualities
- Akpom, now signed by Ajax, flourished after difficult loan spells and being the Championship’s top scorer for Middlesbrough
Sven Mislintat, the director of football at Ajax, claims he almost signed their new striker, Chuba Akpom, from Arsenal when he was 19.
On Wednesday, Akpom signed a five-year contract with the Dutch giants for an initial fee of €12.3 million and was given the iconic No.10 jersey previously worn by Johan Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard, Aron Winter, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Rafael van der Vaart, and Wesley Sneijder.
Mislintat was Dortmund’s chief scout from 2006 to 2017, where he signed players such as Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and he held the same position at Arsenal from 2017 to 2019.
The German, who was named Ajax’s director of football in April, couldn’t help but admire the former Arsenal player.
Chuba was a special player as a young player. He played as a supporting striker, attacking midfielder, and sometimes winger but also number nine. A very versatile player with a lot of qualities. To be honest, I was already interested once in him. I tried to sign him at the age of 19 from Arsenal to move to Dortmund but he made a decision to stay at Arsenal, Mislintat told Ajax website.
With his decision to stay at the Emirates Stadium, Akpom endured some difficult loan spells before breaking through in Greece with PAOK and finally Middlesbrough in the Championship last season, when he scored 29 goals in all competitions for Boro to finish as the second tier’s top scorer and also win the league’s player of the season award.
I’m quite happy for him that he has developed into the kind of striker he can be at 28, Mislintat added.
Akpom will be unavailable for Ajax when they play Excelsior this weekend because he is yet to get his work permit. However, he could play in their Europa League qualifier next week.