Much was made of the amount of players with African heritage that were part of Stephen Kenny's Ireland squad for the June international window, and that is something is only going to become more common moving forward.
Chiedozie Ogbene became the first African-born player to represent Ireland at senior level when he made his debut against Hungary, while the likes of Adam Idah, Andrew Omobamidele, and Gavin Bazunu were also in the squad.
Another Irish youngster with African heritage has made a big move this afternoon.
It has been confirmed that 19-year old Armstrong Oko-Flex has signed for West Ham after the expiration of his contract at Celtic.
We're pleased to announce the signing of promising forward Armstrong Oko-Flex! ✍️
Welcome to the Club, Armstrong! ⚒— West Ham United (@WestHam) June 25, 2021
Born in Dublin to Nigerian parents, he first moved to British football at the age of 11 in order to link up with Arsenal. He would move to Celtic a few years later, going on to make four senior appearances for the club.
Oko-Flex has represented both Ireland and England at underage level, although he seems to now be committed to the Boys in Green. He was recently part of Tom Mohan's U19 training camp, having also featured for the side during their most recent set of fixtures in October of 2019.
Speaking after the move was confirmed, the player said he is looking forward to pushing on at his new club.
It's good to sign for a big club like West Ham United. I’m very excited to get started here. There are a lot of positives around West Ham and it’s just a great club to be at right now.
I know a lot of the boys here already. I trained with some of them when I was younger, and I’ve played against some of them as well, so it’s been good settling in and the coaches have welcomed me in very nicely as well.
I want to thank God first and foremost, and my family and my team around me - without them, none of this would have been possible. I’m just grateful for the opportunity.
It will be interesting to see if he is given any first team opportunities next season.
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