The January transfer window may have closed weeks ago, but that's not stopped Arsenal adding another name to this season's loan army.
Although, this particular deal was only a temporary one, and in fact, it's already finished with Brian Okonkwo, the younger brother of Arthur who started for Sturm Graz in their win over Hartberg, is due back this week after the Gunners reached an emergency one-match loan agreement with Hitchin Town for their Southern League Premier Central Division against Nuneaton Borough.
"We have agreed to a one-match release loan for our 17-year-old goalkeeper who will return to us next week," a statement via Arsenal.com read. "We wish Brian the best of luck for Saturday’s match."
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Okonkwo ended up helping Hitchin earn a point and was praised by manager Mark Burke afterward: "I thought he was excellent,” he said, as per Daily Cannon. "I don’t think he’s used to that sort of [long] kicking, his quads might be a bit sore… welcome to non-league football! The fans were giving him a little bit of jovial banter behind the goal and he took it well… he’s certainly not let Arsenal down, he’s made them proud."
Once again, Nicolas Pepe was absent from the Nice matchday squad because of injury. And for one reason or another, nor Cedric Soares, Runar Alex Runarsson, Miguel Azeez, Omar Rekik, Tyreece John-Jules, Mika Biereth, Nikolaj Moller, Marcelo Flores, Tom Smith, Kido Taylor-Hart or Billy Vigar featured for their respective loan clubs over the past week.
However, Albert Sambi Lokonga made his first start for Crystal Palace in their 1-1 draw against Brentford. It's back-to-back defeats for Auston Trusty in a Birmingham City shirt but it was a perfect week for Brooke Norton-Cuffy after helping Coventry City beat Millwall last Tuesday and following that up by returning to former loan club Rotherham United and leaving with all three points.
In League One, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji featured for Accrington Stanley against Wycombe Wanderers but didn't come off the bench at the weekend, Mazeed Ogungbo was handed a rare starting role for Crawley Town in their 1-0 loss against League Two leaders Leyton Orient, Taylor Foran started both of Hartlepool's games last week as did Tim Akinola but couldn't prevent Chesterfield Town's drawing against Aldershot Town and Solihull Moors in the National South.
North of the border, both Ryan Alebiosu and Alex Kirk suffered defeats whilst in action for Kilmarnock and Ayr United respectively. Across Europe, Pablo Mari's Monza were beaten 1-0 by AC Milan in Serie A, Nuno Tavares returned from a spell on the sidelines because of injury and scored his sixth Marseille goal in their win over Toulouse and Ovie Ejeheri conceded twice as SJK Seinajoki lost against Oulu.
With several Arsenal loanees in line to feature once again over the next few days, football.london has rounded up the main headlines from the past week.
Maitland-Niles 'superb'
Ainsley Maitland-Niles more than played his part as Southampton boosted their chances of Premier League survival by recording a shock 1-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Whilst James Ward-Prowse broke the deadlock with a trademark free-kick, the visitors had the Arsenal loanee to thank for preserving the lead.
At one point in the second half it looked for all the world that Raheem Sterling was about to equalise from close range only for Maitland-Niles to fling his body in front of the shot, thus earning praise from Match of the Day commentator Vicki Sparks who said it was "superb defending".
Marquinhos absence explained
Marquinhos is yet to feature for Norwich City since joining the Championship side on loan on transfer deadline day last month. But after missing Saturday's goalless draw against Wigan Athletic, it would appear that he is being eased back in by head coach David Wagner after a brief spell on the sidelines.
"Marquinhos picked up an injury in training, not a bad one," Wagner revealed in his pre-match press conference. "He was out for nine days but will be back tomorrow in team training. It's all about recovery and getting a tactical message across. It's more progressed than a normal week, but we are used to this in the Championship."
Patino sees red
As a punishment for being sent-off for two bookable offences in Blackpool's 2-1 loss away at Swansea City last Wednesday, Charlie Patino was served a one-match suspension which meant he missed the 1-0 win over Stoke City at the weekend.
But despite seeing red card for the first time at senior level, the talented Arsenal youngster avoided being harshly criticised by Mick McCarthy: “I’m not going to be too harsh on Charlie,” he said. "He’s a young lad and he was just a bit rash, but he was trying to win the ball."
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