Nigerian-Born Defender Trains With Arsenal First Team Ahead Of Trip To Manchester United

Ibadan-born central defender Joseph Olowu was promoted to first team training by Arsenal manager Unai Emery ahead of his side’s trip to Old Trafford, where they face Manchester United on Monday evening.

Arsenal have published pictures of their final workout held at London Colney on Sunday, September 29 and Olowu was spotted training with the first team.

Another Hale End Academy product Bukayo Saka is in contention to be included in the traveling party to Manchester as he also participated in the training session.

In Emery’s pecking order of central defenders, Olowu is behind Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Rob Holding and Calum Chambers, and with the quartet available for selection and training with the group, his chances of being included in the matchday 18 are very slim.

The 19-year-old first trained with the Gunners first team during Arsene Wenger's time in charge back in 2017.

This season, he has been involved in four league matches for Arsenal U23 team and was on the bench in Saturday's 2-2 draw against Liverpool.
 
Olowu has pledged his international future to Nigeria and he's on the radar of the Dream Team VII caching staff ahead of the 2019 U23 Africa Cup of Nations.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal.com