Former Arsenal striker gets Bergkamp shirt number as £10.4m Ajax move completes | OneFootball

Former Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom has passed his medical with Ajax and will complete a £10.4m move from Middlesbrough.

Ajax are set to sign Chuba Akpom from Middlesbrough, with the two clubs agreeing a deal worth €12m (£10.4m) with an additional €2m (£1.7m) in potential add-ons.

Middlesbrough gave Akpom permission to travel for a medical on Monday, with the 27-year-old set to sign a five-year contract with his new club.

It is now being reported that he passed his medical and the deal will now complete.

He will wear the number 10 shirt, a massive number at the Dutch club that was previously worn by players like Johan Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard, Aron Winter, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Rafael van der Vaart, and Wesley Sneijder among others.

Akpom only had a year left on his Middlesbrough deal, so they needed to make a decision on his future to avoid losing him for free next summer.

That decision to sell wasn’t necessarily an easy one, as Middlesbrough would ideally have wanted to keep last season’s top scorer for another promotion push.

Akpom had a fantastic season in 2022/23, scoring 29 goals in 42 games for Michael Carrick’s side.

Middlesbrough finished fourth in the Championship table, sending them to the playoffs, but they lost their two-legged semi-final to Coventry City.

Akpom was named the EFL’s Championship Player of the Season for the 2022/23 campaign, and he also won multiple Player of the Month awards along the way.

“I am super grateful,” Akpom said of the Player of the Season award. “It has been years of hard work to get to this stage, so I am over the moon. It’s been an amazing season but I’ve had a lot of downs, getting injured earlier in the season.

“The new manager came in at the perfect time and he probably brought out the best in me, put me in the number 10 and I’ve been enjoying it ever since.”

That impressive form has eventually led to the Arsenal academy graduate earning a big move to Eredivisie side Ajax.