We take a look at all the Arsenal players linked who have moved on loan and who have been linked with loan moves thus far
Chuba Akpom joins Brighton
Chuba Akpom has joined Brighton & Hove Albion on loan for the remainder of the season, according to the club’s official website. Akpom completed his medical earlier this evening and will link up with his new teammates for training tomorrow morning, ahead of Thursday’s trip to Huddersfield.
The 21-year old was a key figure in Hull City’s promotion campaign last season, wherein the Tigers beat Sheffield Wednesday in the 2016 Championship Play-Off final to secure Premier League football.
He returned to Arsenal at the end of last season but has found playing time very hard to come by with Arsenal well stocked up front. Akpom only managed one appearance for the Gunners this season in a 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest during the Gunners’ EFL Cup clash back in September.
Manager Chris Hughton was pleased with the deal.
“We are delighted to bring in someone of Chuba’s calibre. He is a young talent who gained valuable experience with Hull in the Championship last season, will give us really good pace in the forward areas and complement the other strikers at the club,” he said, according to the club’s official website.
“We fought off competition from other clubs to sign Chuba, and we would like to thank Arsenal for the opportunity of working with him for the rest of the season.”
Ismael Bennacer joins Tours on loan
Tours have confirmed the signing of Ismael Bennacer on loan until the end of the season via their official Twitter account. The youngster joins a club where two Arsenal players have played in the past in Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud.
[OFFICIEL] @ismaa_ben, milieu ?? d’@Arsenal, sur les traces d’ @_OlivierGiroud_ & @6_LKOSCIELNY en rejoignant le #ToursFC sous forme de prêt pic.twitter.com/frEYaQrBis
— Tours Football Club (@ToursFC) January 30, 2017
Bennacer will join the Ligue 2 outfit until the end of the season. The Algerian international was at the African Cup of Nations but returned to make the move after Algeria were knocked out of the tournament in the group stages.
This marks the first loan spell Bennacer has been sent on after joining Arsenal and at 19 years of age, it may not be his last one. Bennacer has only played once for Arsenal’s senior side, replacing Theo Walcott after the latter had already replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as both Englishman picked up injuries.
Bennacer played the majority of that game which was against Sheffield Wednesday and Arsenal eventually went on to lose that tie 3-0. However, Arsenal Wenger recently praised the youngster citing him as an efficient player and it appears he is highly rated at the club.
Stephy Mavididi close to Charlton loan
According to the London Evening Standard, Arsenal starlet Stephy Mavididi is close to a loan move to Championship side Charlton Athletic. The 18-year old is very highly-rated at the club and is apparently generating interest from a lot of clubs around Europe.
The report states that Nicky Ajose is on the verge of a move away from Charlton and that could open a space for Mavididi in the side. Manager Karl Robinson has apparently made it clear that he wants to recruit an attacker before the close of the transfer window.
Mavididi has been prolific in every age group and ended last season as the U21s top scorer with 17 goals in 30 games. He has continued his prolific goalscoring form this season after making the step up to the U23 side and has 8 goals in 17 games across the Premier League 2 and UEFA Youth League.
An England Under-19 youth international, Mavididi was also included among the substitutes in two of Arsenal’s EFL Cup games this season but is yet to make his senior debut.
This continues a long-standing history of Arsenal loaning out players to Chalrton, as Francis Coquelin, Emmanuel Frimpong and Yaya Sanogo all having spent spells with the South-East London side.
Krystian Bielik also close to Charlton move?
Polish outlet FirstEleven claim that Arsenal have also received an offer for Polish U18 defender Krystian Bielik. The player has made 14 appearances for the U23 side across the Premier League 2 and UEFA Youth League this season.
Bielik also managed to make one appearance for the senior side, playing 3 minutes in Arsenal’s 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest back in September. The 19-year old joined the Gunners for an estimated £2.7m back in January 2015 but had to wait until the following October to make his debut, coming on as a substitute in Arsenal’s shock League Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.
Bielik is highly-rated at the Emirates but his chances of breaking into the first team this season were always going to be slim, especially after Arsenal signed Rob Holding from Bolton in the summer. Even Calum Chambers who is well ahead of Bielik in the pecking order was forced to go out on loan in search of regular first-team football.
A move to Charlton would make sense for all parties as Charlton would be getting a raw but talented defender and Bielik could get some much-needed first-team experience with Kris Robinson’s side. The Championship is an unforgiving league and Bielik would definitely return a much tougher player.
