Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo has switched his nationality to AFCON giants Nigeria amidst the Red Dragons winning Championship form.
Until last year, Wrexham were playing League One football where it’s a rare sight to find any international starter competing in the division. In comparison, the Championship is a step above League One and that extends to clubs signing players with a fair amount of national caps under their belt.
During every transfer window, especially the summer ones, Championship clubs try their best to load their squads with more international pedigree and compete for promotion. In a way, packing a lineup with names that keep getting national team call-ups shows how stronger a team is doing at the moment.
Championship league leaders Coventry City have the international firepower of Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante, just to name a few. Ipswich Town has skipper Dara O’Shea, Marcelino Nunez among others and Middlesbrough relies on David Strelec and Riley McGree’s national team experiences to mount a Premier League promotion push.
Now, it’s natural to think how many internationals Wrexham have? A simple Transfermarkt stat suggests the Red Dragons have as many as 9 past and present national team players.
Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo switches nationality to Nigeria
Make it 10 now, with another Wrexham star soon to come in contention for an international call-up. Going by a report from PM News Nigeria, Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo has switched his nationality to AFCON giants Nigeria.
First things first, it’s a sensible decision on Okonkwo’s part. The 24 year old shot-stopper has progressed into becoming one of the first names on boss Phil Parkinson’s teamsheet as Kieffer Moore, Nathan Broadhead and Max Cleworth have managed to do.
Talking of them, Moore and Broadhead are full-blown Wales regulars and have shared the international stage for quite a while now. Wrexham academy graduate Max Cleworth has strong prospects of playing Premier League football for several years and earning an England cap down the line.
Watching their examples, it would have been an injustice to Okonkwo’s talent if his playing career had no glimpses of international appearances in it. Thankfully, it’s not the case as Okonkwo’s previous nationality clearly suggests it could have been a losing battle for the Wrexham keeper to win favour in the national team setup.
Arthur Okonkwo’s youth level international career
For starters, Okonkwo was lining up for England’s young Lions before and, as per Transfermarkt, climbed the goalkeeping ranks to the U15s, U16s, U17s and U18 levels. The U19 and U21 levels were the only age categories where Okonkwo couldn’t stamp a place among the young Lions.
Considering the 24 year old has surpassed those age brackets, the next step could have been the senior Three Lions team. Since the late 2010s, Jordan Pickford has remained England’s most trusted man behind the sticks.
Plenty of rival candidates like Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope and a few others have provided decent competition at times, but not enough to displace Pickford in goal.
Then there is Okonkwo, who will be considerably over the age of 25 whenever Wrexham gets to the Premier League or Arthur himself jumps ship for a tempting top flight opportunity.
Even then, Okonkwo will need to get up to speed with the Premier League as quickly as possible and establish himself as the best English No.1 for atleast one full season. From there, Okonkwo could have expected to bag some minutes for England in goal which may or may not happen despite putting in a strong campaign.
In contrast, bagging the No.1 gloves for Nigeria and retaining it for several years seems well within Okonkwo’s reach as things stand. The AFCON giants have begun their campaign with 3 out of 3 group stage wins, but haven’t fetched a clean sheet so far.
In the context of knockout fixtures, clean sheets can make or break a team’s campaign. Hence, it’s evident Nigeria needs a safe pair of hands to accumulate more clean sheets in the future and looking at Okonkwo won’t be a bad idea.
