Former Arsenal academy striker Chuba Akpom has been nominated for the EFL Championship Player of the Season award for 2022/23.

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND: Chuba Akpom of Middlebrough celebrates after the Sky Bet Championship between Sheffield United and Middlesbrough at Bramall Lane on February 15, 2023. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND: Chuba Akpom of Middlesbrough celebrates after the Sky Bet Championship between Sheffield United and Middlesbrough at Bramall Lane on February 15, 2023. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

The EFL announced the shortlists for their yearly awards this week, and Middlesbrough forward Chuba Akpom was among the nominees for Championship Player of the Season.

The ex-Arsenal academy striker joins Burnley’s Josh Brownhill and Coventry City’s Viktor Gyokeres in the running for the award, with the winner to be announced on Sunday, April 23rd.

Akpom has to be one of the favourites to win the Player of the Season award, having already won three of the PFA’s Fans’ Player of the Month awards this season.

The 27-year-old won the PFA award in November, January, and February, and he was also nominated for the most recent monthly award in March. He also won the EFL award in December!

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Akpom’s incredible goalscoring form has been the driving force behind the nominations, having bagged 27 goals in 36 games in all competitions this campaign.

That feat is made even more impressive by the fact Akpom missed a little over a month of football near the start of the campaign with an injury. His form since then has been nothing short of exceptional.

Chuba Akpom with his two PFA Championship Fans' Player of the Month awards for this season (Photo via the PFA on Twitter)
Chuba Akpom with two of his PFA Championship Fans’ Player of the Month awards for this season (Photo via the PFA on Twitter)

From a Middlesbrough perspective, this is one of the best individual goalscoring seasons they’ve seen for a long time, and it’s put them in a position to earn promotion to the Premier League.

Though an automatic promotion place seems out of reach, Middlesbrough are firmly in the running for a play-off spot, sitting fourth and six points clear of dropping out of the play-off positions with just five games to go.

As for Akpom, he only needs four more goals to triple his previous-best tally for a senior campaign. Having never before scored more than 11 in a season, he’s now at 27 and showing no signs of slowing down.

A step up to the Premier League looks like a real possibility, whether Middlesbrough are promoted or not.

Internationally, the former England u21 pledged his allegiance to Nigeria in 2019, and you’d imagine it won’t be long before they call him up.

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