The young winger Alex Iwobi started this season as the breakthrough star from the Arsenal Academy, and was a regular starter in the first half of the season, but although he had some excellent performances he didn’t really follow that up with actually putting the ball in the back of the net very often, and he was finally squeezed out of the First team squad in the last couple of months and relegated back to the U23 reserve side.
But the fact is that Iwobi is only 21 years old and still has improvement to come, and his 18 games for the Gunners this season will have increased his confidence. But he still has improvement in him and according to his uncle, Jay-Jay Okocha, he is determined to win back his place in the squad next season. “It’s not easy to break into an Arsenal team from youth,” Jay-Jay told Omnisport.
“A young player won’t cope with a whole season. It’s understandable he’s not been playing recently. Overall he has done well.
“No player is happy when he’s not playing but he’s still learning, he’s still young.
“He’s not playing for Wenger. He’s playing for Arsenal, even though Wenger gave him the opportunity. If Wenger goes, he’ll fight on.”
Having said that, Okocha thinks that the criticism against Arsenal’s greatest-ever manager is misplaced and he should be given more respect for his achievements over the years. “I don’t think Wenger should go,” he said. “They’ve been up there for 20 years, you’d expect they’d have one or two bad seasons.
“He’s one of the best coaches in the world and he deserves a lot of respect for what he’s done.”
Iwobi is lucky to have such an experienced mentor as Okocha to keep his feet on the ground, and if he can have such a long and successful career as his uncle, Iwobi will certainly have done well. But is the youngster good enough for Arsenal on his present form?
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