{"id":3661,"date":"2023-10-01T18:46:14","date_gmt":"2023-10-01T17:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/2023\/10\/01\/read_news-phpnid48996\/"},"modified":"2023-10-01T18:46:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-01T17:46:14","slug":"read_news-phpnid48996","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/2023\/10\/01\/read_news-phpnid48996\/","title":{"rendered":"Put me on the bench: Akpom tells Ajax coach he&#8217;s unhappy playing as a No. 10 or winger:: All Nigeria Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"newsbody\">\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allnigeriasoccer.com\/..\/football_pics\/48342Akpom.png\" height=\"219\" hspace=\"8\" vspace=\"8\" alt=\"Put me on the bench: Akpom tells Ajax coach he's unhappy playing as a No. 10 or winger\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Arsenal&#8217;s Hale End Academy product Chuba Akpom has reportedly told Ajax Amsterdam coach\u00a0Maurice Steijn\u00a0he would prefer sitting on the bench, rather than being deployed as an attacking midfielder or right winger.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to ESPN journalist\u00a0Cristian Willaer, via <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnieuws.nl\/voetbal\/binnenland\/onvrede-bij-ajax-spelers-chuba-akpom-en-georges-mikautadze-zet-ons-dan-maar-op-de-bank\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Sport Nieuws<\/a>, there is dissatisfaction among the Ajax Amsterdam players, with Akpom and\u00a0Georges Mikautadze telling\u00a0Steijn that they are not happy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Willaer added that Akpom\u00a0asked the Ajax manager when he would get a chance in the team as a striker.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Super Eagles hopeful has not hit the heights expected of him in his first two months as an Ajax player following his move from Middlesbrough, with no goals in four appearances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On his starting debut for Ajax Amsterdam in their Eredivisie clash against\u00a0Twente Enschede, Akpom\u00a0was deployed as a right winger in a 4-3-3 formation, which\u00a0 should be his least preferred position in a front three.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In Saturday&#8217;s abandoned clash with\u00a0RKC Waalwijk, Brian Brobbey\u00a0was chosen to lead the line and Akpom was on the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the Arsenal-reared player having more than four years left on his contract, there&#8217;s a dark cloud over his Ajax future given that\u00a0Sven Mislintat, who recommended his signing, was recently fired from his role as\u00a0Director of Football.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Akpom had a breakout 2022-2023 season, scoring 29 goals in 42 games across all competitions which earned him a move to the four-time European champions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ifeanyi Emmanuel\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: ajax.nl<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Copyright ANS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nAll rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from allnigeriasoccer.com<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.allnigeriasoccer.com\/read_news.php?nid=48996\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal&#8217;s Hale End Academy product Chuba Akpom has reportedly told Ajax Amsterdam coach\u00a0Maurice Steijn\u00a0he would prefer sitting on the bench, rather than being deployed as an attacking midfielder or right winger.\u00a0 \u00a0 According to ESPN journalist\u00a0Cristian Willaer, via Sport Nieuws, there is dissatisfaction among the Ajax Amsterdam players, with Akpom and\u00a0Georges Mikautadze telling\u00a0Steijn that they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faca.com.ng\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}