Hearts signing Daniel Oyegoke reveals why he rejected Arsenal - and the World Cup winner who nurtured him

Daniel Oyegoke playing for England Under-20s. Pic: David Rogers/Getty Images

Declining a professional contract offer from Arsenal takes courage and steadfast self-belief. Daniel Oyegoke has both. The latest defender to join Hearts rejected a deal at the Emirates Stadium three years ago to join Brentford. He now finds himself at Tynecastle Park, relishing the opportunity of new surroundings and European football.

Confident, articulate and engaging, a chat with Oyegoke is different to conversing with your average 21-year-old. He knows who he is, what he wants and how to achieve it. Past experiences have shaped him into a right-back with pace and strength, one nurtured by the German World Cup winner Per Mertesacker in Arsenal’s youth team.

At Brentford, Oyegoke found himself under the wing of former Hearts players Neil MacFarlane and Steven Pressley. They recommended Gorgie as a prosperous next stop on his career path and he took the advice. “I've loved it so far, to be completely honest. I don't think I have ever come into a club and straight off the bat felt comfortable,” said the player.

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“They've made me feel really comfortable and the gaffer has already told me what he wants me to do and what he wants to see from me. It's really clear, we had a welcome meeting. Honestly, I feel it's a great place to be at. I feel like I'll do well.” Those comments prompt the question of exactly what the Hearts head coach Steven Naismith is after.

“Just to show my attributes. Be aggressive, as aggressive as I can on the press. Also, show my calm and composure on the ball, make the right decisions,” explained Oyegoke. “It has been a short period of time and I am sure there is going to be more and more detail that we are going to go into, but so far what the staff has given me has been a good indication of how we are going to play going forward.”

Oyegoke represented England at every level up to and including under-20s. Loan spells at MK Dons and Bradford City are also on his CV. “Last season I got a good bank of games [at Bradford], the season before as well. Training in and around Brentford's first-team was good experience for me and European competitions with England as well. I feel like I have experienced a lot in a short amount of time. I think it can only help me. Every new experience I've had, I've taken something from it. That has made me a better player and can only have helped me coming here.

“At Brentford, it was Sam Saunders, a past player, Steven Pressley and Neil MacFarlane I looked up to. Those three for me, personally in terms of my development, were deep-diving into my game and football understanding, giving me the ability to dictate games and show my brain on the football pitch. It was all from them so those three have been amazing for me. I spent a lot of time with each of them individually. I can thank them enough because they put a lot of time into me.

“With Neil it was more group-work but he would take me to do one one-on-one sessions, especially in my early time at Brentford. Steven Pressley and Sam Saunders, especially Steven, I don't know how many hours I spent on the pitch just me, Steven, cones and a ball. It was one-to-one and that's where you learn the most, I think. You can have dialogue. I can take a touch and he can stop it to say: ‘You want it here because of this, this and this.' It's the detail that really matters in the end.”

Would that individual attention and specific detail have been delivered in the same away at Arsenal? There are few better to learn from than Mertesacker, the London club’s academy manager. Nonetheless, Oyegoke did not hang around to find out. He spent four years there before deciding to spurn the offer of a professional contract whilst still a teenager.

“I just felt at the time that I would be closer to the Brentford first-team than Arsenal's. I won't have known, but that's what I felt at the time,” he stated. “At Brentford, I got to train with the first-team a lot and be in and around that group quite a bit so it was good for my development as a player - even if I didn't play as much as I wanted to or get the opportunities in the first-team. I was able to be around that group so much that it has helped me as a player. At Arsenal, I wasn't sure if I would get the same opportunities.”

He was an attacking player until Mertesacker converted him into a full-back. “Per and Marcel Lucassen, they made me a defender,” revealed Oyegoke. “I was a forward so he played an instrumental part in my development as a player. My foundations of being a defender was through him. He is a great defender to learn from. We had a good group, Bukayo Saka who is doing the best thing, playing for England now and doing really well, was the age above me and he was always flying.

“I was young so I wasn't happy at first [changing position]. You always want to score the goals but it was one of those ones where I had a coach at school who would always talk to my mum and dad about football because they weren't big football people. He basically said they know best. Who am I to tell them I want to be a striker if they think I should be a defender? To be fair, they probably did know because I was in the back four a year and then got called up for England. It seemed to be the right thing.

“It was hard to walk away from Arsenal but I believe it was the right decision for me. I think in football you have to be as selfish as you can. It's not always what it seems. For me, I've always been driven to take an uncomfortable step. If I think the uncomfortable step will help me grow and maybe elevate me as a player quicker than maybe the traditional route that other players my age are taking, then I'll take that step. I'm not fussed about that.”

For Hearts fans, his surname is pronounced ‘Oh-you-go-kay’. It might be a name they see a fair bit over the coming weeks and months. Another right-back is incoming at Tynecastle in the form of Costa Rica internationalist Gerald Taylor, so there is plenty competition. Oyegoke is a versatile type who can play full-back, centre-back or wing-back.

“Brentford is quite similar to here, it literally flips. One week we play a four and I am playing right-back or centre-back in a four. Then the next week I am playing right of a three or wing-back. Literally in the last three years we've been flipping between all three positions. Even at Arsenal, we did that as well. When I was young there, Unai Emery was manager and was playing three at the back. He wanted the whole academy to play three at the back. I feel comfortable in any [of the three].”

The decision to join Hearts was influenced to some degree by Pressley and MacFarlane. Pressley works as Brentford’s head of individual development, while MacFarlane is in charge of the club’s B team. “They told me Hearts is a great club, filled with great people, which for me is very important because that is who you are going to see on a day-to-day basis. It's a big club with a big fanbase and I am honoured and privileged to play for the club. I am very happy I made the decision to come up.”