Koby Owusu Arthur (born 31 January 1996) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays for club Hereford.
A midfielder who can also play as a forward, Arthur made his Football League debut in the Championship with Birmingham City in April 2013. He spent time on loan at Conference Premier club Lincoln City and in two spells with League Two club Cheltenham Town, for whom he scored his first senior goal. After his release from Birmingham in 2017, Arthur joined Macclesfield Town, and was part of the squad that won the 2017–18 National League title and promotion back to the Football League. After time out of the game through injury, Arthur had a truncated season with Kidderminster Harriers of the National League North and spent the 2021–22 season with Dover Athletic before joining another National League club, Maidenhead United, in 2022.
Early life and career
Arthur was born in Kumasi, Ghana. After moving to England he joined the youth system of Southern League club Woodford United, where he was noticed by a Birmingham City scout in 2012. The 16-year-old Arthur moved into the football and education development programme run by Birmingham City's community department, and was soon recruited into the club's main development system. He played for the club's under-18 team, and made his reserve team debut in February 2013 in a 2–1 Birmingham Senior Cup defeat to Stourbridge. Development squad coach Richard Beale described his performance as excellent: "He won his headers and tackles and he got the ball down and tried to pass it and he can be very pleased with the way he played." A few days later, he produced another good performance on his first Professional Development League appearance.
Arthur is short in stature, at , but solidly built. Manager Lee Clark described him as a "pocket battleship", who plays at a high tempo with "so much energy and enthusiasm". According to his profile on the Birmingham City website, he is "a powerful striker of the ball", able to play in any midfield position or as a forward.
Club career
Birmingham City
Arthur was given squad number 16 ahead of the visit of Sheffield Wednesday on 19 February 2013, but did not make the 18-man matchday squad, and was included in the travelling party for the next match, away at Peterborough United. Amid tabloid reports of interest from Premier League clubs, Arthur signed a two-year professional contract with Birmingham. He made his first-team debut on 1 April in a 3–2 defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Championship, coming on as a 78th-minute substitute for Mitch Hancox. According to the Birmingham Mails match report, "he was nimble, showed the odd glimpse". He made his second and last appearance of the season, also as a late substitute, in Birmingham's next match. At the end-of-season awards ceremony, Arthur was honoured as Academy Player of the Season.
He made his first competitive start on 6 August 2013, as Birmingham beat Plymouth Argyle 3–2 after extra time in the first round of the League Cup, and his first league appearance of the season a few days later, as a second-half substitute in a home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Loans
On 21 March 2014, Arthur became the third Birmingham youngster, after Charlee Adams and Nick Townsend, to join Conference Premier club Lincoln City on a youth loan until the end of the season. He went straight into the starting eleven for the following day's match at Gateshead, but was replaced at half-time with his side two goals behind. He made five more appearances before returning to Birmingham.
Arthur joined League Two side Cheltenham Town on 25 July 2014 on a six-month youth loan. On his second appearance, he scored his first senior goal: in the 84th minute, he latched on to a long goalkeeping clearance and "showed his strength to hold off Jordan Mustoe and bundle it past Simpson into the net" to put Cheltenham 2–1 up, which proved to be a winning lead after Accrington Stanley's Kal Naismith missed a late penalty. He scored again a week later as Cheltenham came back from 2–0 down to win at Tranmere Rovers, and further enhanced his "super-sub" reputation with a 90th-minute header in the next match to secure a 1–0 win against Hartlepool United that took Cheltenham top of the table. Given his first start in the Football League Trophy, he scored Cheltenham's second goal, again with a header, to ensure their progress to the second round at Oxford United's expense. He made his first league start on 13 September, in a 1–0 defeat away to Luton Town, and was recalled by Birmingham the following day.