Arthur Okonkwo was promoted to the first-team squad yesterday, with the Hale End product set to be Arsenal’s third-choice goalkeeper for next season.
Okonkwo has long been regarded as a player with much potential. He first trained with the senior squad in 2017 and towards the end of last season regularly travelled with the team to games.
The 19-year-old commands his penalty area with authority and possesses superb reflexes while his distribution is also of a high standard.
In addition, Okonkwo has also gone through some difficult moments, such as when he missed the entirety of the 2019/20 season because of a health problem.
The goalkeeper bounced back last season to produce some encouraging performances for the U23s, often in difficult circumstances when the team was struggling.
Having worked very hard to get to this stage, Okonkwo will be fully aware that there is now an even tougher task ahead as he looks to eventually challenge to be first-choice goalkeeper.
That is still some way off at present and it is likely that Okonkwo will require a loan spell at some stage, but just getting into the squad is a good starting point.
Next season he will hope to at least get on the bench for some senior games, particularly in the Carabao Cup, and it isn’t out of the question that he could be called into action in the event of an injury crisis.
Okonkwo is certainly a prospect to keep an eye on and he could make his first unofficial appearance for the senior team during pre-season.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Best of luck to him!
Always nice to see our young players making progress
Good luck to him. He’s clearly going to be the number 2 keeper; it’s going to be interesting to see whether or not Leno is number one come the start of the season. I hear Ramsdale is still on the cards.
BTW: Sad news today about the death of our former striker Paul Mariner. He had a couple of very good seasons for us in the mid Eighties, although his best football was probably played representing Ipswich and England. He was a decent bloke by all accounts too.
RIP, Paul
Also coached Toronto FC in my hometown. Good tough coach. Sad news. RIP.
Jeorge, is there any truth to the rumour that Okonkwo and Tyreece John-Jules stayed the night at yours when they missed the last tube after a particularly raucous Wetherspoon’s curry club?
Your silence speaks volumes.
In Nigeria, the name Okonkwo was made famous by the book “Things Fall Apart” written by renowned author, Chinua Achebe.
Let’s hope “things fall in line” for him and for us at the Arsenal.
Fingers crossed 🤞
Good one
I was waiting for someone to mention this. I found that book on the library shelf one day. It was so engrossing that I finished reading it within 24 hours.
“Things Fall Apart” is partially the reason why I started paying attention to Arthur’s development.
Great to see another academy product real through!
Anybody know anything about his passing and distribution? Being comfortable with passing seems to be a big requirement for modern goalkeepers to make it these days
The 19-year-old commands his penalty area with authority and possesses superb reflexes while his distribution is also of a high standard.
https://arseblog.news/2021/07/talented-arthur-okonkwo-rewarded-for-persistence/
If he’s going to be 3rd choice keeper this season – which Edu confirmed – then surely it would be best to loan him out to a Championship or League One club where he’s guaranteed 46 games – with a recall clause in case of emergency. Then if Leno and the new #2 get injured, we recall Arthur from his loan. If he stays, presumably he’ll still be the #1 for the U23’s in order to get match time – but will just train with the first team instead of the youth team – it’s just not the same as… Read more »
From what I understand, if you’re a third choice keeper it means you’re at the club, not on loan. By definition.
and No.2 is ????
No Club would loan a starting keeper just to loose him in an emergency at another club. I think it is best to let him train at a high level and let him learn from Leno etc. and then we talk about loans.
And in other news… a bloke named Martinez saved THREE penalties on way to getting Argentina their first Copa since Columbus!