If you watched Arsenal play against the Singapore XI then you will have taken note of the exceptional performance from youngster Chuba Akpom, who bagged himself a hat-trick. He is a player that Arsenal fans have been watching in part now, with the hope that he can break on to the first team scene. The England u20 international has 9 games under his belt for Arsenal, unfortunately failing to score in any of them. However, over the last couple of pre-seasons he has shown that he is more than capable of playing for Arsenal and yet it is not clear whether he has a short term future at the club, with a loan a possible option. Harry Kane is an exceptional example of why hard work pays off and is a figure that Chuba should look up to.
Last season, Harry Kane lit up the Premier League with his goals, coming close to obtaining the golden boot. In all competitions he played 51 games and scored 31 goals earning himself an England call up, where he then scored on his debut with one of his first touches.
Life wasn’t always this sweet for Kane, who endured some dreadful seasons before emerging as the goal machine he is now. Prior to last season he had spent numerous seasons out on loan at teams like Leyton Orient, Milwall, Norwich and Leicester racking up a measly 16 goals in 65 games across 4 seasons. It looked like Kane would soon be shipped out of Spurs, with the fans labeling him a failure. Yet his commitment to the sport was remained unquestionable; he bided his time, trying his hardest to earn a place in the Spurs line-up and what better circumstances than when they are crying out for an out and out goalscorer. With Soldado and Adebayor in their ranks it is clear why he got his chance, and he took it.
Akpom will not get his chance straight away because Olivier Giroud is a firm favourite of Wenger’s and there is talk of another striker coming in to dislodge the Frenchman, in which case a loan to a Premier League club may be Akpom’s best choice.
19-year-old Akpom must follow in Kane’s footsteps by taking each and every opportunity that comes his way and using them to exhibit exactly what he can do. This pre-season tour should do him a world of good and if he continues to perform as well as he did against the Singapore XI, then Wenger will have a very tough time finding a reason not to include him in the first team in the upcoming season.
As much as he needs to look to Kane as a model of how his early career might unfold, for now he must keep his head down and work on his own performances and continue to shine in Asia to prove to Arsene Wenger that he deserves a place in the team.
