17-Year-Old Nigerian Defender Trains With Arsenal First Team

The young Nigerian central defender Joseph Olowu will fancy his chances of breaking into Arsenal's first team and making his competitive debut in the not too distant future.

The 17-year-old trained with the Gunners first team filled with the likes of Per Mertesacker, Jack Wilshere, Nacho Monreal, Petr Čech and Alexandre Lacazette on Friday morning.

Nigeria international Alex Iwobi was also captured on camera training with the first-team, and could return to the match day squad when Bournemouth visit the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Joseph Olowu was among the ten players of Nigerian descent included in Arsenal's roster submitted to the Premier League on September 1, the others being Xavier Amaechi, Folarin Balogun, Tolaji Bola, Aaron Eyoma, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Nwakali, James Olayinka, Chuba Akpom and Tobi Omole.

Olowu was spotted by Arsenal scouts at the age of thirteen while training with Charlton Athletic, and was snapped up by the Emirates outfit after impressing the coaching staff during trials.

This season, the highly-rated defender has started all the three games played by Arsenal U18s in the U18 Premier League, and was an unused substitute for the U21s in their 2-1 loss to Liverpool before the international break.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : arsenal.com