Arsenal new signing

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Young Arsenal goalkeeper, Arthur Okonkwo could be set to earn more time with the senior team set up following Emiliano Martinez’s switch to Championship club, Reading.  Martinez trained with his new team-mates on Wednesday after completing a medical to put the seal on his move from the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal youth team guru, Jeorge Bird who knows much about the activities at the Emirates and possess first hand knowledge of the potentials of the Nigerian has tipped him to get time with the first team soon following the latest development.

Though Okonkwo is only seventeen, he is not lacking in talents and is surely a player Unai Emery will fancy promoting in order to learn alongside the likes of Peter Cech and Bernd Leno. “The only position I’ve ever played is goalkeeper. I began as a seven-year-old at Hampstead Academy and then with a club called Lindus Park. While I was with them the coach arranged for me to have a trial at Arsenal and I’ve been a Gunner ever since,” he said to Arsenal.

“I tried playing outfield but it wasn’t for me. I enjoyed the thrill of making saves – the more spectacular the better. I suppose that’s why I like watching David De Gea play more than others. He’s an instinctive goalkeeper who makes fantastic reaction saves, although I do watch all goalkeepers to see what I can learn.”

I’ll watch a game and enjoy the overall play, but I scrutinise what the keepers do in more detail. Although there’s no particular keeper I look to learn from I’m lucky to be around someone like Petr Cech, who makes an effort to help me develop.

“I’m looking to improve all aspects of my play, but particularly my left foot. I like the different drills, and my favourite is the crossbar challenge. I start off trying to hit the bar with my left foot from the penalty spot, then move five or ten yards further back, and then move back again. That helps me develop power and accuracy.”

Before now, the highly-rated glovesman has been invited by erstwhile Gunners manager, Arsene Wenger to train with the first team before a League Cup match against Doncaster Rovers in September 2017 and also pre-West Ham in a Premier League game in April 2018. Okonkwo who was between the sticks in the 5-2 thrashing of Tottenham in the FA Youth Cup has been the club’s main shot-stopper in the U-18s.

The youngster has once credited how easily he has bedded in with the senior team at the club to the efforts of senior goalkeeper, Cech who has helped aid his development as a goalkeeper. He has earned caps for England youth teams but is still eligible to represent any of the Nigeria youth teams by his parentage roots.

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