On Tuesday afternoon, Arthur Okonkwo was spotted training with Arsenal’s first-team under the watchful eye of Mikel Arteta.
The 19-year-old has never made a first-team appearance for the Gunners, but Arteta seems keen to get him involved with his stars at Colney.
Okonkwo has made three appearances so far this season. Two have come in the Premier League 2, where he has conceded two goals.
Another came in the Papa John’s Trophy, where he received a yellow card and conceded once against Crawley Town.
Of course, Arteta has Bernd Leno and Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson as his two main first-team shot-stoppers.
However, there’s no denying that being involved in first-team training will hugely benefit the teenager Okonkwo.
You can see the young glovesman in training below.
Amazingly, Okonkwo revealed to Arsenal’s official website that he experienced a huge growth spurt as a child.
The England Under-18 international spoke of how the club ran some tests where they measured his wrist size, wing span and other things.
These studies showed that Okonkwo has grown to 99.6% of his potential height at the age of 14!
He said: ‘Arsenal did some tests where they measure wrist size, wing span and other things, and at 14 and 15 I had apparently grown to 99.6% of my potential height. I don’t expect another growth spurt.’
Given the fact that Leno and Rúnarsson are ahead of him in the pecking order, Arteta would be wise to find a loan move for the promising youngster.
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