Arsenal have confirmed that Arthur Okonkwo has joined Wrexham Town on loan for the duration of the 2023-24 season.
The 21-year-old goalkeeper heads to the Racecourse Ground after undertaking impressive loan spells with Crewe Alexandra and Sturm Graz last season.
While he made the bench for seven Premier League matches in the 21/22 season, the arrivals of Aaron Ramsdale, Alex Runarsson and Matt Turner have kept him at arm’s length from a senior debut. Since then, he’s also fallen behind Karl Hein as the third-choice stopper.
Having played regular football in Austria’s top flight, the decision to move back to the fourth tier of English football will raise some eyebrows. At the same time, Wrexham are obviously in the limelight at the moment having recently regained their Football League status under the ownership of Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
The Red Dragons have won only one of their first five league games this season and have been on the lookout since part-time podcaster Ben Foster announced his retirement 10 days ago.
Okonkwo’s current deal at Arsenal runs until the end of the season so it could mean we’re going to miss out on a fee if he becomes a free agent.
On joining Wrexham, Okonkwo said: “I know that the Club had a great season last year, and it’s good to see how the Club has a plan to progress up the leagues.
“The passion the fans, the owners and the Club have to keep moving forward is really good.”
On a related note, Arthur’s younger brother, Brian, has made a loan move of his own joining Leatherhead until January. As he’s only 17, we’ve had to call it work experience.
Enjoy Hollywood Arthur; this is an interesting one – personally I love what is going on at Wrexham, I’m a lower league fan at heart and support anything that brings exposure to the bottom of the pyramid
To add to this – I have to endure never ending praise for Brighton. I was at Edgar Street when all Hereford United had to do was beat Brighton to remain in the football league – we drew 1 1 and our donkey centre forward missed a one on one to get us the win in the last few minutes (to add insult to injury he tossed me his match shirt at the end of the game). If you have any interest in sliding doors scenarios, Hereford United went out of business and now ply their trade as Hereford FC… Read more »
It would be nice if the Hollywood owners let the team share some of the spotlight.
Mate – if you supported Hereford United you would not be making this sort of a comment. I’m an Arsenal fan first but did not miss a Hereford game home or away for about 10 years – if you gave me the choice of arsenal signing Mbappe or Hereford getting what Wrexham have landed I’d take the Wrexham option every time, as Arsenal will always be okay and lower down you’re living on the edge
Leftfield comment – there will always be a divide in opinion between factions of arsenal fans – this is what keeps us in common with every other team – but maybe we should look for a way to dissociate ourselves from other fans?
We like to separate ourselves from the classless and teams lacking history – but if we want to do this with any legitimate claim then we have to also believe we ARE different?
As a Hereford fan, I’m over the moon with this move.
Just three years ago, Edu and Arteta announced he would play for the first team and gave him a contract. After that he had a pretty bad game in a friendly. That’s all the chance you get in football these days.