Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom heading for Emirates exit with Belgian club seeking loan move

KEY POINTS

Akpom has made just two first-team appearances this season.
The 22-year-old has fallen below 18-year-old Nketiah in the pecking order.

Arsene Wenger is looking to send some of Arsenal's youth team players out on loan before the end of the January transfer window as they are surplus to requirements in the club at the moment.

The Gunners have thus far completed five first-team transfers which include the arrival of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Konstantinos Mavropanos from Manchester United and PAS Giannina and the departures of Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Francis Coquelin to United, Everton and Valencia respectively.

The club have also sanctioned loan moves for a number of youth team players including Ben Sheaf and Tafari Moore, who joined Stevenage and Wycombe Wanderers respectively. Wenger is keen to allow more players to leave as they have struggled to play regularly for the Under-23 side and are also not part of the manager's plans for the first-team.

Chuba Akpom is the latest player on the loan clubs' radar after failing to break into the first-team this season. The England U21 international was handed a new contract and promoted to the senior team, but he has failed to impress when handed the opportunity.

Eddie Nketiah has moved ahead of him in the pecking order as backup to senior strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Olivier Giroud. The 18-year-old has made six appearances for the first-team this season, while 22-year-old Akpom has managed just two.

According to Belgian publication Het Belang van Limburg (HBVL), the Arsenal striker is close to joining Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging better known as STVV in the Belgian Pro League. The report claims that talks are under way between the two clubs but a deal is yet to be agreed.

STVV play in the first division A in Belgium and are currently in sixth place after 24 games. Akpom could be keen to make the switch as he could be guaranteed more game time than he is currently being afforded at the Emirates Stadium.

The potential move to Belgium will be the Arsenal striker's sixth loan spell having previously spent time with Brentford, Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, Hull City and Brighton and Hove Albion.