Arsenal of England youth team goalkeeper, Arthur Okonkwo has received an amazing shower of accolades from The Gunners’ first choice shot-stopper, Bernd Leno, who disclosed that he has been impressed by what he has seen from the Nigerian-born young netminder.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, although Okonkwo remains way behind Leno on the perking order of keepers available to Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta, the German international is not want to undermine the youngster, who he says has shown much promise anytime he trains with the main squad.
Much to Leno’s admiration, Arteta again monitored Okonkwo at close quarters ahead of their epic clash with Manchester United on Saturday at Emirates Stadium in London.
That stopped the fast-rising lad from featuring for Arsenal’s under-23 squad in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Friday, as the Premier League 2 match coincided with the training session at London Colney.
Leno has now rated the 19-year-old Okonkwo among the exciting talents at Arsenal’s academy and recent statistics confirm that the lad would have made at least one matchday squad for The Gunners’ first team if not for an injury that kept him on the sidelines all through last season.
The fast-rising shot-stopper, whose younger brother, Brian Okonkwo is also a goalkeeper for The Gunners’ under-15 team, has recorded an impressive nine career clean sheets in 17 matches for Arsenal’s U18 and U23 teams, while conceding only 12 goals in the process.
Okonkwo is currently behind Leno, Mathew Ryan and Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson in Arsenal’s order of goalkeepers, but the England youth international has been rubbing shoulders with the trio in senior team training sessions, following the permanent transfer of Matt Macey to Hibernian of Scotland in the January transfer window.
Although his spot dropped a run when Arsenal made a loan move for Ryan from Brighton & Hove Albion, the 19-year-old Okonkwo was promoted to third choice for the English FA Cup third round clash versus Newcastle United three weeks ago.
Okonkwo has recorded an impressive nine career clean sheets in 17 appearances combined for The Gunners’ youth teams, and Leno is impressed, as he told Arsenal’s Matchday Programme: “I have to say all of those guys are top guys, they are very motivated.
“(They) really want to learn each day. When they train with us you can see how much they have improved because the quality in first-team training is obviously very high. They all look like very good.”
