Following Ovie Ejeheri’s contract announcement, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji was the last Arsenal u23 player with an outstanding contract offer but the club have now announced this has been signed.

Nathan Butler-Oyedeji playing for Arsenal (Photo via Butler-Oyedeji on Instagram)
Nathan Butler-Oyedeji playing for Arsenal (Photo via Butler-Oyedeji on Instagram)

Arsenal confirmed on Wednesday that Ovie Ejeheri had signed his first professional contract with the club, 10 years after joining as an eight-year-old.

As mentioned in our article on Mazeed Ogungbo’s new deal earlier this week, Arsenal made offers to five academy players with contracts expiring in June: Kido Taylor-Hart, Arthur Okonkwo, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Ovie Ejeheri, and Mazeed Ogungbo.

Until late on Thursday, four of those had signed, with only Nathan Butler-Oyedeji’s future still up in the air. Unlike the rest, he has been in individual training, not team training, and he hasn’t played any part in pre-season. In all honesty, an exit looked more likely for him.

Butler-Oyedeji’s agency recently posted a cryptic “loading” video on their Instagram page, an edit showing the player in training.

Now, however, the club have announced that the 18-year-old winger has signed his first professional contract.

The young forward initially broke into the u18s as a right-winger, but he filled in up front on a few occasions last season. He made 14 appearances for the u18s overall in 2020/21, and one for the u23s on the final day of the season.