Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom joins Brentford on a 1-month loan

Chuba Akpom

Arsenal‘s 18 year-old striker Chuba Akpom has joined Brentford on a 1 month loan. The move has been on the cards for a while now, but looked like it will be delayed for a couple of weeks due to Arsenal’s striker ‘crisis’ but with news of Nicklas Bendtner’s likely early return and Olivier Giroud fully fit the Gunners have signed off on the deal.

Akpom impressed on the Gunners pre-season tour of the Far East and was rewarded with a Premier League debut in September when he came on as an injury-time substitute in the 3-1 win against Sunderland.

He was last seen in Arsenal colours (earlier this week) battering in a hat-trick in the 6-1 FA Youth Cup win over Peterborough and will no doubt prove himself very useful for the Bees as they look to consolidate their position at the top of League 1.

Speaking about the deal, Brentford boss Mark Warburton remarked: “I am delighted to welcome Chuba to the Club for what will be his first loan spell away from his home club.

“I have enjoyed watching Chuba’s development over the last two seasons and particularly noticed his contribution for Arsenal in the NextGen Series tournament.

“He is a strong, quick player with an excellent touch and good vision and I am sure he will make a valuable contribution to the squad in the weeks ahead.

“I would very much like to thank Arsenal for their most professional and prompt response to our request to take Chuba.”

Akpom follows in the footsteps of Wojciech Szczesny who spent a season on loan at Griffin Park in 2009/10.

Young @Arsenal striker @cakpom9 has joined Brentford on a one-month loan deal: http://t.co/8MQCOQshdy pic.twitter.com/jSp12Eho8s

— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) January 9, 2014