Arsenal have signed Arthur Okonkwo to a long-term professional contract and have promoted the teenager to his first team permanently.
Okonkwo has recently risen through the ranks at the Emirates and made the transition from under 18 to under 23 level when he was just 17 years old.
He thoroughly impressed in Premier League 2 last season and trained with the first team group towards the end of the campaign and earned a place on the bench for the first time against Olympiacos in the Europa League. His impressive development continued and he was named in the squad for both semi-final legs against Villarreal.
The promising kid, who has represented England below 18, had been out of contract since June 30. But Arsenal have kept their positions for the next few years and have called him to the first team team with shirt number 33.
Manager Mikel Arteta told Arsenal’s website: “We welcome Arthur to the publishing team. We are so happy that another academy player has come through our system at the club.
✍️ New long-term contract? New shirt number? In our first team group
Congratulations, @arthurokonkwo_?
– Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 9, 2021
“Together with Arthur’s enormous talent and hard work, we thank our colleagues at the academy for developing Arthur in recent years to come to this stage. They do a great job with the players’ development here and should be really proud.
“Arthur worked and traveled a lot with the first team last season and we have all seen his quality first hand. He is a strong young goalkeeper with great potential and we are so happy that he has signed a new deal. He has definitely earned his place in the publishing team.
“Arthur will now accompany us every single day in training, where we look forward to seeing him continue to develop and improve his goalkeeper. I know all our fans will congratulate Arthur on this positive step in his career.”
? “They have always made me feel at home.” @LacazetteAlex x @Bernd_Leno?
– Arsenal (@Arsenal) 9 July 2021
Okonkwo will probably serve as the third choice behind Bernd Leno and Runar Alex Runarsson next season – but could run for the latter in the breeding order if he continues to impress.
