Arthur Chukwuezugo Okonkwo (born 9 September 2001) is an English professional

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, on loan from

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Early life

Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Okonkwo began his career at

Hampstead Academy Hampstead Academy is a private, independent, STEM and STEAM, day school situated on a wooded campus in southeastern New Hampshire. Established in 1978, Hampstead Academy is approved by the New Hampshire State Department of Education and Health ...

before moving on to Lindus Park, where he joined the

Arsenal academy The Arsenal Academy was a military academy in Columbia, South Carolina, originally established in 1842 as an independent school by the state of South Carolina. In 1845, the academy became a component of the South Carolina Military Academy (now Th ...

as an eight-year-old in 2009.

Club career

Arsenal

Okonkwo came through the Arsenal ranks quickly, starring on the bench for an under-18 Arsenal match, while being registered as a player for the under-15 team. He also debuted for the under-23 Arsenal side as a 17-year-old. By the 2018–19 season, Okonkwo came runners-up in the U18 Premier League, and was already appearing as a bench goalkeeper for the first team, and going into the 2019–20 campaign, he would be 3rd in line for goalkeeping duties. Okonkwo struggled with injury in the 2019–20 campaign, failing to register a single appearance for any of the Arsenal teams. Okonkwo's double save in the

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

, against

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

was a contender for the best save of the 2020–21 season. Okonkwo played in Arsenal under-21s' 2–1 victory in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

at Crawley Town on 30 October 2020, and in a 1–1 draw at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in the same competition on 2 November 2021. He signed a senior contract with Arsenal in early July 2021, donning the number 33 for the first team. Okonkwo made his senior team debut on 13 July 2021, against Hibernian in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

, misjudging a back pass from

teammate

Cedric Soares Cedric () is a masculine given name invented by Walter Scott in the 1819 novel '' Ivanhoe''.Sir Walter Scott, Graham Tulloch (ed.), ''Ivanhoe'', vol. 8 of The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, Edinburgh University Press, 1998, , "explanato ...

, to grant

Martin Boyle Martin Callie Boyle (born 25 April 1993) is a professional footballer who plays for Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership. Born in Scotland, he represents the Australia national team. He is a right sided winger who is also capable of playing ...

a tap-in, in a 2–1 loss to Hibernian.

Crewe Alexandra (loan)

Okonkwo joined

side Crewe Alexandra on a season-long loan on 29 July 2022. He was signed in time to be eligible for Crewe's season-opening game at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

; Crewe's first-choice goalkeeper, Dave Richards, had suffered a finger injury and required an operation. Okonkwo duly made his Crewe and professional league debut in a 2–1 win at

Spotland Spotland ( ) is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. The Rochdale ward name is Spotland and Falinge. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 10,805. It lies on the River Spodden, and is the home of Spotland Stadium ...

on 30 July 2022, then kept a clean sheet on his home debut in a 3–0 win over Harrogate Town at

Gresty Road Gresty Road or the Alexandra Stadium, currently known as the Mornflake Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The home ground of Crewe Alexandra, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. History Cre ...

on 6 August 2022. After 26 appearances and ten clean sheets for Crewe, Okonkwo was recalled by Arsenal in mid-January 2023.

Sturm Graz (loan)

On 16 January 2023, Okonkwo joined

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

side Sturm Graz on loan until the end of the season. He made his Sturm Graz debut against

Rapid Vienna Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

on 10 February 2023. Okonkwo played in the Austrian Cup final on 30 April, with Sturm Graz beating SK Rapid Wien 2–0.

Wrexham (loan)

On 1 September 2023, he joined

on a season-long loan following Ben Foster's retirement. In December 2023, he returned to parent club Arsenal for minor surgery after suffering a jaw injury in a 2-2 draw at Harrogate Town on 28 November.

International career

Okonkwo represented England at under-16 and under-17 levels, then debuted for the under-18s two days before his birthday. He remains eligible for Nigeria through his ancestry.

Style of play

graduate, Okonkwo has stated that

Petr Cech Petr is a Czech given name for males and a Czech surname. Petr is the Czech form of ''Peter''. For information on Petr as a first name, see Peter (given name). Given name * Petr Aven (born 1955), Russian billionaire banker, economist and politic ...

and David De Gea influence his own goalkeeping style. Okonkwo said this on him playing as a goalkeeper: "I tried playing outfield but it wasn’t for me. I enjoyed the thrill of making saves – the more spectacular the better".

Personal life

Okonkwo has a younger brother, Brian, who also plays as a goalkeeper in Arsenal's academy.

Career statistics

Honours

Sturm Graz *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okonkwo, Arthur 2001 births Footballers from Greater London Black British sportsmen English sportspeople of Nigerian descent Living people English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers England men's youth international footballers Arsenal F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players SK Sturm Graz players Wrexham A.F.C. players English Football League players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria English expatriate sportspeople in Austria