Alexander Chuka Iwobi ( ih-WOH-bee ; [ 3 ] born 3 May 1996 ) is a nigerian professional football player who plays as a winger for Premier League club Everton and the Nigeria national team. Iwobi began his career at Arsenal, making 149 appearances and scoring 15 goals, and winning the FA Cup in 2017. In August 2019, he transferred to Everton for an initial £28 million fee.
Reading: Alex Iwobi
Iwobi represented England up to under-18 charge. He made his senior international debut for Nigeria in October 2015, and was part of their squads at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, coming third base at the latter .
early and personal life [edit ]
Iwobi was born in Lagos before moving to England at the age of four, following a brief last out in Turkey, [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] and grew up in Newham, London. [ 7 ] His enate uncle is former professional football player Jay-Jay Okocha. [ 5 ] [ 8 ]
Club career [edit ]
arsenal [edit ]
Iwobi with Arsenal, 2016 Iwobi joined Arsenal while still at primary school, [ 9 ] [ 10 ] in 2004, [ 11 ] and was closely released by the clubhouse at the age of 14 and again at the age of 16. [ 7 ] He was first involved in a first-team couple as an idle stand-in in a League Cup match against West Bromwich Albion on 25 September 2013. [ 12 ] He signed a long-run compress with Arsenal in October 2015. [ 9 ] [ 13 ] On 27 October 2015, Iwobi made his first-team debut for the baseball club, starting in a 3–0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the Round of 16 of the League Cup. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] He made his Premier League debut four days subsequently in a 3–0 gain against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium, as a arrest time substitute for Mesut Özil. [ 16 ] Iwobi made his Champions League debut as an 85th-minute ersatz in a 5–1 kill against Bayern Munich. [ 17 ] Iwobi started in the inaugural team for the 2015–16 FA Cup 3rd and 4th round home wins against Sunderland and Burnley respectively. [ 18 ] [ 19 ] After getting a beginning Champions League depart in a 3–1 away kill to Barcelona, [ 20 ] Iwobi went on to score two goals in his first two Premier League starts in wins against Everton, [ 21 ] and Watford, respectively. [ 22 ] In the following season, Iwobi changed his team number from 45 to 17, after Alexis Sánchez took number 7 from the departing Tomáš Rosický. [ 23 ] He went on to feature throughout Arsenal ‘s triumphant FA Cup crusade of 2016–17, winning 2–1 against Chelsea in the final. [ 24 ] He achieved further success with Arsenal in the 2017 Community Shield, in which Arsenal beat Chelsea on penalties. [ 25 ] In January 2018, a video was released that allegedly showed Iwobi at a late-night party 36 hours before a match. [ 26 ] In May 2018, after Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger announced he would be leaving the golf club, Iwobi described him as an “ divine guidance ” and stated it was sad but exciting. [ 27 ] In August 2018, he signed a new long-run compress with the golf club, reportedly until 2023. [ 28 ] In January 2019, Iwobi was the subject of allege racism from indian actress Esha Gupta, an Arsenal ambassador. [ 29 ] In July 2019, after the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, he said he was looking ahead to returning to club football with Arsenal. [ 30 ]
Everton [edit ]
On 8 August 2019, Iwobi signed a five-year contract with Everton. [ 31 ] According to the BBC, Arsenal received a fee of an initial £28 million, rising to £34 million with potential add-ons. [ 32 ]
Read more: S.S. Lazio
Fifteen days after signing, Iwobi made his debut as a alternate for the final half-hour in place of Gylfi Sigurðsson in a 2–0 loss at Aston Villa. [ 33 ] On 28 August in the moment round off of the EFL Cup, he scored his first Everton goal in a 4–2 succeed at Lincoln City. [ 34 ] He scored his first league goal on 1 September in a 3–2 gain over Wolverhampton Wanderers, and was one of two players singled out for praise by coach Marco Silva afterwards. [ 35 ]
International career [edit ]
Iwobi with Nigeria in 2017 Iwobi started as a youth external for England, with whom he won the 2011 Victory Shield. [ 36 ] [ 37 ] [ 38 ] Iwobi went on though to play for Nigeria. He made his aged debut for the Super Eagles on 8 October 2015, replacing Ahmed Musa in the 57th moment of a 2–0 friendly kill to DR Congo in Visé, Belgium. [ 39 ] He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man probationary squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. [ 40 ] He was not a part of the 18-man final squad. [ 41 ] In August 2017 Iwobi pulled out of Nigeria ‘s police squad for that month ‘s World Cup qualifiers due to injury. [ 42 ] In October 2017, Iwobi scored for Nigeria in a 1–0 acquire over Zambia to secure the Super Eagles a spot in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. [ 43 ] He was named in Nigeria ‘s 23-man police squad for the rival and featured in all three games as the Super Eagles were knocked out in the group phase. [ 44 ] [ 45 ] In April 2019, he said he wanted to emulate his uncle Jay-Jay Okocha by winning the Africa Cup of Nations. [ 8 ] He was included in Nigeria ‘s squad for the 2019 tournament. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] At the tournament he said he would ignore the label of Nigeria as favourites. [ 48 ] After the tournament he said he was looking forward to returning to club football with Arsenal. [ 30 ]
career statistics [edit ]
club [edit ]
- As of match played 6 December 2021
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club
Season
League
FA Cup
League Cup
Europe
Other
Total
Division
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Arsenal
2015–16[49]
Premier League
13
2
5
0
1
0
2[a]
0
0
0
21
2
2016–17[50]
Premier League
26
3
3
0
2
0
7[a]
1
—
38
4
2017–18[51]
Premier League
26
3
1
0
5
0
6[b]
0
1[c]
0
39
3
2018–19[52]
Premier League
35
3
2
1
3
0
11[b]
2
0
0
51
6
Total
100
11
11
1
11
0
26
3
1
0
149
15
Everton
2019–20[53]
Premier League
25
1
0
0
4
1
—
—
29
2
2020–21[54]
Premier League
30
1
3
0
3
1
—
—
36
2
2021–22[55]
Premier League
12
1
0
0
2
1
—
—
14
2
Total
67
3
3
0
9
3
0
0
0
0
79
6
Career total
167
14
14
1
20
3
26
3
1
0
228
21
International [edit ]
- As of match played 3 September 2021[56]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team
Year
Apps
Goals
Nigeria
2015
2
0
2016
6
1
2017
5
3
2018
12
1
2019
15
2
2020
4
2
2021
4
0
Total
48
9
- As of match played 13 November 2020. Scores and results list Nigeria’s goal tally first.[56]
Honours [edit ]
Arsenal
England U16
Nigeria
Individual
References [edit ]
Read more: Swansea City A.F.C.