While with Toulouse, Akpa Akpro was briefly called up to the France U18 International team, but was forced to withdraw from the squad due to injury.

After his departure from Brussels, Akpa Akpro had travelled to England where he joined Milton Keynes Dons in a pre-season trial, before also spending a week training with Colchester United.

On 2 December 2008, Akpa Akpro joined English club Grimsby Town on trial with a view of earning a permanent contract.

A day later he received international clearance to play for Grimsby's reserve team in their league fixture away against Bradford City.

The signing of Akpro at Grimsby would be the third French-speaking player to join the club under Mike Newell, with Congolese midfielder Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala and fellow Frenchman Mickael Buscher also arriving at Cleethorpes.

He originally was set to make his debut against Port Vale on 6 December, but his papers from the Belgian Football Association were not received on time for him to feature.

In the remaining months of the season, The Mariners were involved in a relegation battle, in which Akpa Akpro found himself playing a key part, mainly being fielded in attack alongside Adam Proudlock.

Towards the very end of the campaign Barry Conlon became Akpro's regular strike partner, and the two would turn out to become vital to the club's eventual survival from relegation.

[8] After topping the scoring charts of League 1 with seven goals in ten games, it was announced Akpa Akpro would be out for three months with a fractured metatarsal, coming off in the 18th minute in a 1–0 victory away at Notts County.

Following his release from Tranmere, Akpa Akpro signed a one-year contract for Shrewsbury Town in League Two on 2 July 2014.

[9] He made his Shrewsbury debut away at AFC Wimbledon on 9 August,[10] and scored his first goal for the club ten days later, converting a penalty in a 4–0 rout of Accrington Stanley at New Meadow.

[13] Akpa Akpro scored the decisive goal in a 1–0 away win at Cheltenham Town as Shrewsbury secured promotion to League One on 25 April 2015.

[17] He ended the 2015–16 campaign with seven in total, including important late goals in the season run-in against Scunthorpe United, Bradford City and Gillingham,[18] as Shrewsbury finished in 20th place, four points above the relegation zone.