Arsenal had a very close call with Folarin Balogun.
The highly-rated teenage striker was a couple of months away from leaving Arsenal on a free transfer which, given his talent, would’ve been terrible for the club.
But the Gunners successfully tied him down to a new long-term deal.
And if a report from Football London is true, Arsenal are set to repeat the trick with Arthur Okonkwo.
Like Balogun was, the 19-year-old goalkeeper is only contracted to the Emirates Stadium side until next month.
But Football London have reported that Edu and Mikel Arteta have held talks with the young stopper about staying with his boyhood club, amid speculation about other teams being keen to swoop.
Okonkwo is regularly photographed in Arteta’s senior training sessions at London Colney and therefore the Spaniard will have had enough time to run the rule over the youngster.
Here’s how Arsenal fans reacted to Okonkwo potentially staying:
Okonkwo was named on the bench for the second-leg Europa League quarter-final with Olympiacos back in March, underlining what Arteta thinks of him.
And if he does sign a new deal, it seems plausible that a loan move away from Arsenal next season would be the best course of action.
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