Alex Iwobi has been at Arsenal since the age of 9 and it’s been revealed that he was nearly released on 2 separate occasions, so how has he gone from the brink of leaving to being an established first team player?
One reason is the difference of education within the youth team nowadays. Since the likes of Cesc Fabregas it’s been clear that Arsenal have had a copious amount of impressive young talents, talents that were given reasonable playing time too – players like Carlos Vela, Henri Lansbury, Håvard Nordtveit and Benik Afobe have been tried before eventually being moved on in recent years, many joining good level clubs – but Iwobi has succeeded where that all failed.
One thing that was apparent straight from his Emirates Cup start vs Lyon was Iwobi’s willingness to conform. He showed Wenger in that game that he was cool, composed and able to take instruction in what was an effective and mature display. Since that game it was a slow but steady rise for the English born Nigerian. Playing FA cup games along with playing many games for the u-23 team, some of which playing as a deeper central midfielder to build his tactical understanding.
