CONFIMRED - Akpan to Blackburn

[paultheroyal]

This is fabulous news. Lovely bloke, great athlete, woeful footballer. Didn't come close to fitting in with what Clarke is trying to do here. Might not get a fee but will free up wages for the two guys heading in from southern Europe.

Tish is already 2x the player Akpan ever was.

Agreed.

[melonhead]

farewell sweet prince

all hope is lost

[Lacoste]

Charles Watts ‏@charles_watts · 44 mins44 minutes ago
Hope Akpan is indeed heading to Blackburn. Expected to be done today. Unclear as to loan or permanent. #readingfc #rovers

[Lacoste]

Charles Watts ‏@charles_watts · 43 mins43 minutes ago
Discussions have taken place about the prospect of releasing him from his contract early as #Rovers are under FFP embargo. #readingfc

[Vision]

Straight swap for Jordan Rhodes would sort that out.

If Hammond can't get that sorted then wtf are we paying him for.

[SCIAG]

5 or 6 for 2 central midfield berths is fine.
We can't get a fee from Blackburn, they have a transfer embargo

I am still not convinced we have enough depth. There's no guarantee we will bring anyone else in now, and we're likely to be using three in the middle instead of two.

So I still think we should keep hold of him for cover, until we can get some more players in.

When we've used three in the middle, one of them (Williams) has often been much more advanced. Cox can play that role.

Williams, Quinn, Norwood, Tshibola, Taylor, Cox, potentially a new guy. Worst comes to worst, we can play Kelly or Husin or Sammi, or put Obita or Hector in midfield. Kuhl and Tanner can come back from their loans, assuming Kuhl actually goes.

I see no downsides to this move, except from Blackburn's perspective.

[Royal Ginger]

^ Agreed, at real push, HRK and Hector can play in midfield too. It's not worth a 1st team wage to have a 6th option with others for emergencies.

[Ian Royal]

This is fabulous news. Lovely bloke, great athlete, woeful footballer. Didn't come close to fitting in with what Clarke is trying to do here. Might not get a fee but will free up wages for the two guys heading in from southern Europe.

Tish is already 2x the player Akpan ever was.

+1

Can we recall Kuhl if neccessary?

As soon as we have some fit wingers our midfield will look much less stretched. Not often you have to play four central midfielders in a 4-4-2.

[Pepe the Horseman]

This is fabulous news. Lovely bloke, great athlete, woeful footballer. Didn't come close to fitting in with what Clarke is trying to do here. Might not get a fee but will free up wages for the two guys heading in from southern Europe.

Tish is already 2x the player Akpan ever was.

+1

Can we recall Kuhl if neccessary?

As soon as we have some fit wingers our midfield will look much less stretched. Not often you have to play four central midfielders in a 4-4-2.

He didn't join Mallorca in the end. Hasn't yet, anyway.

[Platypuss]

He didn't join Mallorca in the end. Hasn't yet, anyway.

Yeah, he's been back in the UK for the last week.

[MoorgateRoyal]

I still think we could do with some cover. Like I said, if Akpan goes then I'd like someone else in.

It's a long season and it's extremely unlikely we'll get 46 games plus any cup games out of the centre midfielders.

[Platypuss]

I still think we could do with some cover. Like I said, if Akpan goes then I'd like someone else in.

It's a long season and it's extremely unlikely we'll get 46 games plus any cup games out of the centre midfielders.

Once we get the chance to start with proper wide men we won't need as much central midfield cover.

[MoorgateRoyal]

I still think we could do with some cover. Like I said, if Akpan goes then I'd like someone else in.

It's a long season and it's extremely unlikely we'll get 46 games plus any cup games out of the centre midfielders.

Once we get the chance to start with proper wide men we won't need as much central midfield cover.

I suppose once Fosu, McCleary, Robson-Kanu and Stacey are back fit and in contention, the shape will probably change and we'll go a little wider.

[NewCorkSeth]

Steve Clarke - ringing in the new, wringing out the old. Happy days!

[sandman]

Good luck to him. Never really given a chance here by fans who could never get over the fact that he was signed in the Premier League and a manager who would drop him or take him off the pitch even when he was doing well. Shoulder injury whilst on international duty meant he was never really able to get going during Clarke's tenure.

Still say that if he was a 23 year old produced from the academy he would have been cut a lot more slack by supporters than he did as a 23 year old signed in the Premier League from another club.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Probs didn't help that he was an attacking midfielder at Crawley, but generally used as a def midfielder here.

[winchester_royal]

Good luck to him. Never really given a chance here by fans who could never get over the fact that he was signed in the Premier League and a manager who would drop him or take him off the pitch even when he was doing well. Shoulder injury whilst on international duty meant he was never really able to get going during Clarke's tenure.

Still say that if he was a 23 year old produced from the academy he would have been cut a lot more slack by supporters than he did as a 23 year old signed in the Premier League from another club.

Not sure I agree with that - if you look back to his first few months I was as pro-Akpan as anyone.

In fact - if you look at Bri Mc's last game, it was probably his decision to take Akpan off the field that received the most abuse.

Most people have just come to realise he's not very good.

[maffff]

Probs didn't help that he was an attacking midfielder at Crawley, but generally used as a def midfielder here.

Best game I saw him for us was Sunderland at home when he was in a more advanced position and was driving play forward. He was the only one not afraid to give it a go on the ball and looked our best player in spells.

[ZacNaloen]

He didn't join Mallorca in the end. Hasn't yet, anyway.

Yeah, he's been back in the UK for the last week.

Yeh they want/ed him but our club is shit at politics. Hopefully still going ahead but negotiations required.

[sandman]

Good luck to him. Never really given a chance here by fans who could never get over the fact that he was signed in the Premier League and a manager who would drop him or take him off the pitch even when he was doing well. Shoulder injury whilst on international duty meant he was never really able to get going during Clarke's tenure.

Still say that if he was a 23 year old produced from the academy he would have been cut a lot more slack by supporters than he did as a 23 year old signed in the Premier League from another club.

Not sure I agree with that - if you look back to his first few months I was as pro-Akpan as anyone.

In fact - if you look at Bri Mc's last game, it was probably his decision to take Akpan off the field that received the most abuse.

Most people have just come to realise he's not very good.

He wasn't given a chance to be good.

When he had a little run in the side he and the team did relatively well. 2013-14 season he's beginning to form a partnership with Williams and we win a few games including a very good performance against Millwall away, next thing you know Guthrie is back to fitness and Akpan is dropped despite not really doing anything wrong. Wolves last season, the Sky commentary team pick Akpan out as being key to our play, what happens? Adkins makes a completely unnecessary half time change, brings on Guthrie and we end up drawing.

Akpan became a full international here, playing for a country that reached the World Cup second round during 2014 tournament. You can dismiss Nigeria if you want but it's still an achievement to get into a squad that played in the round of 16 at a World Cup just a few months before.