Oyegoke came up against Spurs many times as a youngster and is relishing a reunion
Wednesday night's match between Hearts and Tottenham Hotspur is marked down as a pre-season match, but new Jambos defender Daniel Oyegoke offered some friendly fire to the north-London opposition in the build-up.
Oyegoke, a 21-year-old who can play right-back or centre-half, has reason to relish coming up against Spurs. The defender spent four years in the Arsenal youth academy and played many a derby against the Gunners' fierce rivals. He then moved on to Brentford before making the permanent switch to Hearts this summer on a three-year deal.
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A cheery and confident chap, Oyegoke smiled and laughed when the prospect of taking on his old adversaries was mentioned. “I faced them quite a few times," the England Under-21 internationalist said. "We used to beat them up! It was always a good fixture for us.
“They tried to tell us the importance of the derby when you are young. I’ve never really liked Spurs, so hopefully we can try to beat them up again!
“I wouldn’t say I was an Arsenal fan. I wasn’t really a fan of any team, I just loved my football. I went to Arsenal from Barnet when I was about 14. It was good for me and my development as a footballer.
“I joined as a striker or a winger, but quickly became a right-back or centre-half in my first year. That was the best thing for my development, as soon as I became a defender I started to get involved with England at youth levels and pick up a lot of experiences.
“I look at my time there very fondly. I made a lot of friendships and connections with people who helped me along the way. It was a good club for me.”
He will come up against some past acquaintances at Tynecastle wearing while. “Oliver Skipp is a good few years older than me but I caught him when I was playing for the 21s," revealed Oyegoke. “Dane Scarlett, who is there at the minute, is a really good friend of mine. I’ve got quite a few friends there as I live near the area.
“They have a good team. So do we though. It’s a game we’ll use to build our fitness and, yeah, hopefully beat them up!
Oyegoke got the best education at Arsenal, playing under a number of world-class managers and coaches. “I joined at the end of [Arsene] Wenger and then it was Unai Emery," explained Oyegoke. “It went on to [Mikel] Arteta. Obviously I was quite young but I spoke a lot with Arteta. I was involved in pre-season games with them, training and stuff. I had quite a few sessions with him.
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“He’s obviously a great coach and you can see the detail he likes to go in to, you can see it coming out now in the way Arsenal play. It was good to take what I could from him and hopefully bring it here."
Oyegoke got his first taste of Tynecastle in Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Leyton Orient and is set to battle it out with fellow new signing Gerald Taylor for the right-back slot this season. The Costa Rican is expected to feature against Tottenham, with Lawrence Shankland and Zander Clark also back in the squad.