Alex Iwobi is one of those players, just like Mesut Ozil, that fans either love or hate but he is an Arsenal player and the signs, at this moment in time, are that he will still be an Arsenal player next season.
But with the signing of Dani Ceballos almost certain and the club dead set on signing a winger where does that leave Iwobi?
It must be noted that he had the joint second most appearances in the Premier League last season, just one behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who had the most appearances with 36.
However, he was not an automatic starter with 22 starts, which made him joint ninth and so with the new additions the chances are that he will be at best a bench warmer for the most part.
He is now in the category of Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, a player not considered an automatic starter who’s place in the pecking order will seriously be challenged by incoming signings.
It would be human nature for the Nigerian international to be thinking about his future at the Emirates, he is just 23-years-old and these are the years that he should be showcasing his talents, does he really want to be sitting on the bench for most of the season?
I cannot see a role for Iwobi going forward, that is not a reflection on him but more a case of reality when you consider the players that are being brought in and the sort of players the club is targeting.
I do not think it is outrageous to suggest that he will be sold this summer and I would argue that it is in his own best interests to seek a club that will offer him more first-team opportunities next season.
i dont care … what is worrying is that at this point with a couple of weeks before the start of the season we have the same mediocre defensive outfit which is not fit to deliver 4th place let alone something more fitting of what AFC wants to be … seems the scot is out so where the fcuk does that leave us …shockingly inept management …
We will bring in a defender,, the priority is to get Zaha first.
Gutted if we miss on Tierney, he’s another class player we can add to the “almost” list. Missing on top talent for a few million again.
Shocking club hasn’t addressed the defense. Can’t find money for Tierney but chasing Zaha? Everton?
Josh better keep his word regarding transfers; Martinelli deal only one so far and money left over. Sensing a lot of “we tried” excuses coming, brace yourselves
Answer to the article is a massive NO
and I have to agree with rkw above me ,that should be are more pressing concern ,iwobi should have been replaced by now but it seems the powers that be are a little stupid in their transfer dealings .
Why is it so hard to let players go?
Seriously if Iwobi Mustafi Mkhitarian Jenkinson Elnenyleft tomorrow who would care?
Arsenal only have 2 world class players Ozil and Aubameyang.
Does anyone miss Wilshere Welbeck Perez Vermaelen
Flamini Diarby Girvinho Chamakh Park Frimpong Sanogo
Chamberlain Gibbs Asano Miyaichi Gabriel Senderous Chambers
Kalstrom Eboue Denilson Debuchy Nasri Djourou Gallas Adebayor?
I don’t miss RVP as he only had one good season and Ramsey
was here 8 years and was average at best.
Since the invincible’s out of the 100+ players Arsenal have signed
I really only miss 7.
Cech Cliche Mertz Koz Toure Cazorla and Fabregas.
@Agu Emen If you was a top club looking for reinforcements would you buy mkhi on 180k a week? I dont think we have trouble letting players go the trouble is other teams wanting them and having the finances to afford them. Also the player has to want to leave. ps harsh to put diaby name there he couldve been great without injuries and theres some quality guys on that list.
Do we have any better? I suppose Iwobi can play on wings to rest Auba and play in middle with his physical attributes, and I dont see us reinforcing LM or LW anyway. Give him a year more
Apart from TW14 does anyone care
??
Judging by last season performance I will say yes but if after next season he doesn’t improve his finishing then he will be sold, but we have more pressing issues than iwobi, I really don’t know why we still have mustafi in that team,if we fail to buy a class defender we will again miss out of top4.
Iwobi is a great team player and always brings a plus when he comes in from the bench. He defends, go forward, good feet speed and dribble.
We need to focus on bying Koulibaly and Sidibe at Monaco for RB instead to BS or all we do is useless.
Can add up as many midfield and attack, without a defense, we are losing games.
lol mate this aint FIFA career mode. If city cant buy koulibaly or united whos a club that makes near 700 mil a year what makes you think we can? thats a 120 mil transfer.
Definitely. He might not be a world class LW, but he is perfect in the middle. Be it as a no 10 in a 4-2-3-1 formation or a half-winger/ false nine in a 4-3-3 formation
If Emery doesn’t try him in the middle for at least five official games, Iwobi’s talent would a huge waste. The young man has everything to thrive centrally, which are his dribbling skill, his close ball control skill, height and strength
Yeah-pity he can’t pass a shoot properly which are not bad attributes to have as a No10
?
He’s certainly not our worst player last season, we have more than 7 players that iwobi was better than last season so yes he deserves to be here next season.
Iwobi is a good squad player to have, and he is also homegrown. We need 8 HG players to fill the quota.
And he’s not on frivolous wages (40k a week I think) so I don’t see any problem having him around.
Of course there is a future for Iwobi at Arsenal-Gunnersauraus Rex can’t last forever?
??? well we know when his time will come, as I’ve never seen Gunnersaurus flap his arms!
Are you trying to do me out of a job Phil??
This is all so silly, simply because we needed to replace Ramsey at the very least, so its as we were really.
If your looking for commitment though, I would suggest that someone who insisted he only wanted a one year loan contract, might not be that person.
Just cannot get my head round the reason we are not addressing the most serious problem that UE inherited , the defence!!!
The only sane reason must be that UE is as happy with it as AW was…jeez could that REALLY be the reason???
Ken, most people obviously overlooked the fact we did last year but made a woeful choice. If we had bought the right defender in Abduo Diallo instead of Sokratis we might have not be in this desperate need of another one. We chased him and the kid that went to Leicester only to buy Sokratis and Diallo went toDortmund to replace him for 22m and got sold to PSG for 40m few weeks ago. We made a wrong choice because we were trying to safe money and we about to do the opposite in Zaha case waste money because we want make statement. Emery said we want to buy expensive players. Why are we buying expensive player when we have many area to fix and their is cheaper and better alternative who we make more money on in the future. CP just rejected 55m for Zaha, why not buy Everton for 30m out of it and give some of the rest to Celtic to get Teirney. We have bunch of guys who are confused on how to move our club forward. Hope Edu can see through these problems and bring the most lacking direction.
Treu comments Mobella, I guess it’s because our defence3 is as bad as it ever was during the last three years, that I forget soks and lichs.
If we had even a fifth of what seems to have gone missing from the CL qualification bonanza, we could go out and compete with everyone except ity in the premier league and Zaha would be one of my choices…after sorting out the defence.
As you say, confusion reigns supreme at The Arsenal at the moment, despite all the changes made.
did they really think that putting a CL clause into the Tierney deal was a brilliant idea?
At least with Edu and Freddie we have some hope that UE will be supported!!!
Zaha would give us more of what Iwobi fans rate about Iwobi, taking players on and doing it with some dodgy moves at times. The only problem I have is the price, there’s no resale value unless we decide to cash in early. Those prices are for young players with resale value, he signs five year contract then he’ll be 30 with one season left on contract, Palace are having a laugh they know this. Would rather we looked for a player that has most of it in front of him, even if he doesn’t adapt as quickly as Zaha would. We could’ve got De Ligt, or the Barca kid, Maguire, or Dembelle, sure Mbappe could’ve been gotten when he first moved. I don’t think Zaha is worth it in the first place, then add the resale problem, I think this is a bad move esp when we’re looking for loans and playing tit for tat over valuations of other targets.
If he arrives and our spending is getting bigger and bigger each year, if we’re challenging in the market so we can challenge in the league, then yes, that is more like it, but with the stories we’re hearing and the whole loan thing, and trying hard to sell players, it doesn’t add up.
Lets be optimistic Ken, Andre Gomes was loaned last season and turned out good.
If all else fails we can always resort to Joe Willock.
Ken-Honestly.I don’t believe you would get the Gunnersaursas gig over Iwobi.He is just too far qualified for the role.
In regards Ceballos-at least we have the Tamsey role covered.And what’s to say he eventually prefers Arsenal to Real Madrid.The issue at that club is the high volume turnaround of most players and the fact RM seem to prefer buying over promoting youth.
In regards Defence it must be sorted.NOW.I just cannot believe Emery isn’t attesting tonbring in at least one CB,especially with Kos seeming to be gone.If Tierney vomescthen that’s only addressing one part of the problem.Thats unless of course Emery believes we have enough with Holding Chambers and Mavo competing with Sokritis and Mustafi.
I just cannot see Emery wanting to rely on Mustafi.I honestly believe he is a decent player but it’s the continual mistakes that costs us that you cannot overlook.Will he improve?I just cannot see it.
??? So funny Phil,can you remind me how many assists ozil had last season?
Honestly mate I don’t know-but I would have thought if you compare Ozil’s and Iwobi’s statistics last season for assists and goals when they STARTED games then Ozil would have the better statistics.
Happy to be corrected if I’m wrong but don’t believe I will be
We are competing in Europa, FA Cup, League cup and the EPL.So will need to rotate and Iwobi can do that,he brings some energy off the bench, we need keep him for the coming season and decide later.Too many aging players at present.
To me i think we need to deal with problems which are arising from the deffence and not the wingers and the strikers,I haven’t seen any problem with Iwobi let him be given many chances and surely we shall the best coming out of him
The defence is a two-fold problem. Yes we need to improve the players in those positions but also those further up the pitch aren’t doing their jobs which puts further pressure on our already struggling defence.
Getting a proper out and out winger would go some way to relieving some of the pressure. No offence to Iwobi but he is not a winger (although he gives it a try) and sadly for him I can see him having serious trouble contending for a starting spot in the middle.
Personally I think he may need to look for pastures new as I don’t see him even making it into squad rotation with all the youngsters we have trying to breakthrough both in midfield and on the wings….. Nelson, Saka and Martinelli all looked better than him on the wings, and the likes of Willock, ESR, Olayinka and even AMN look better prospects in the middle imo
Last season only Man City and Liverpool scored more goals than us, that is as good as they come. Honestly it is a miracle we missed 4th place by a point as we conceded goals in almost every matches. It is the defense that didn’t do their job properly, not the other way around mate.
I don’t disagree the defence did a p*ss poor job last season and we need reinforcements.
What I mean though is if our midfield was doing its job right then our defence wouldn’t need to be relied upon as much…. Too many times bad passes/players caught out of position etc further up the field made matters worse for our woeful defence…. It takes the whole team to defend effectively not just a back line.
Ill never be accused of being the President of the Alex Iwobi
fan club but he was nowhere near our worst player last year.
Ozil
Miki
Xhaka
Mustafi
Cech
Nacho
All of the above were consistently more dire in there performances
compared to the Nigerian and as many have stated above the squad
does require depth and homegrown numbers to compete both
domestically and in Europe.
WTS he shouldn’t be a starter on the wings for AFC and an upgrade
at the position should be prioritized after addressing the
abomination that is our CB reality.
position.
ACE, excellent comment , though be prepared for a lot of shouting and screaming from one or two old farts on here. you mentioned lord god blonde ozil, these guys cannot see past their noses when it comes to speaking the truth about this utter waste of space.i guess it is all part of growing old. and i am an oldie myself, make no mistake. but i think these one or three guys see ozil as the professor of failures love child.hence they cannot see through their rose tinted specs, lol.
I wonder who you could be talking about!,,,The best footballer at the Club by a country mile yet too many question his work rate in my opinion.If it was as bad as is made out why did Emery continually select him?Why is it that some would seen to prefer 10 outfield players like Flamini who would run through brick walls for his team mates but had zero in the way of ability.I cannot argue with the fact that the player has been consistently ineffective,and it is very frustrating to see this week after week.But the Manager and Wenger before him have to shoulder a lot of the blame for this not just the player himself.
Putting is wages to one side,the Player is quite simply the most gifted footballer at the Club.He seems to be blamed for everything that has been so obviously wrong at the Club.Is the player to blame for our ridiculous defence?Our bland midfield?Our lack of genuine width?A fit and confident Ozil is a bonus some seem too easily to disregard and has become the single point of blame every time these debates are brought up.
In MY opinion,there should be no questions ever asked as to the players ability.All supporters should at least have the sense to admit this much at least.Emery failed the player,and as a result the whole team,by his complete mis-Management of how we were set up and how he placed work rate over productivity.I don’t want to see Ozil running 70 yards to close a player down.I want to see him drifting 10-20 yards into space to collect the ball and be creative.
Surely that is just good football sense is it not?
omg, oh wow, what blind faith , lol.
It’s nothing to do with bling faith pal.I know a footballer when I see one.I am fortunate enough to be able to remember truly class players since I began watching Arsenal in the early sixties and I honestly believe Ozil is as talented a player as we have had at the Club.I accept that’s my opinion and I agree others have different views of what type of footballer they prefer to see at the club.Bergkamp remains my favourite ever with Henry close behind.Brady is still a legend.Pires-wonderful footballer.Could he tackle?No.Could he go sliding into challenges?No.But he didn’t need to.His Manager didn’t buy him to do that.He had other players in the team to do that for him.This is where I believe Ozil has been let down, firstly by Wenger then by Emery.When Cazorla and Rosicky were at the Club you had players who could bring the best out of him.Read the stats.Its no coincidence Ozil early seasons were so much more productive when those two played.
Iwobi is ordinary. Does not have anything special about his play and can’t do the final ball to save his life. Sell him.
My problem with Arsenal fans is they are overly sentimental .To say Ozil played better than Iwobi LAst season is criminal , To leave Xhaka and Mustafi and ELneny and decide to sell a homegrown player is stupid .
Now for a player who had the second highest number of assists for us last season is more than stupid .
People keep shouting Zaha . this is a player that had 10 assists and 10 goals Iwobi had assists and 3 goals .
IF we here Signing HAkim Ziyech its something else .
arsenal backed out of lb deal Tierney
As far as I can see that story started on the Daily Record who think we submitted a 27m bid (inc add ons) and it has been rejected…… Daily Record is as bad as The Sun for reporting utter BS so hoping this one is fake too.
You guys who want to get rid of him need to think practically. We have a small budget and need to keep some of our squad players for next season at least
Fact is that we need squad players
We can’t just have 11 players or fill our bench with world class players
We need substitutes, players to play some Europa league, early FA Cup and League Cup matches
Iwobi is fine as a squad player
Mustafi, Xhaka, Ozil, Jenkinson, Elneny should be prioritized over Iwobi to leave the club
He is still in his early 20’s. Lets see if he improves
Iwobi is mediocre but even if we bring a top winger, Iwobi is for now the only player in our squade that can take on opponents, if we dont count our youngsters.
So we need him as a squade player until Nelson, ESR or Saka can take that roll.
I don’t love or hate Iwobi, I want to love him but sometimes when he speaks he makes it difficult and he needs to do more and learn more for me to love him. I don’t like that the mere mention of a Zaha bid, a rumour not a done deal, had him speaking about maybe moving on if Zaha arrived. Then he talks about fight, that is not how fight works, so I agree with Innit after reflecting because a small squad hurt us last season – But Iwobi may be under the impression that he’s a first or second choice player going forward, I don’t think he realizes yet how things are supposed to go at the bigger clubs, fight actually means you gotta fight. Last season he was the only one in a forward sense taking players on and leaving in rearview consistently, we appreciate, but we need to see a lot more from the talented English Nigerian youngster.
Loan player are never reliable or ever use over team own players. How many loanee have make name for arsenal over the years latest on the list was one Suarez. Lol. No noise whatsoever over latest loan acquisition.
As far as I am aware Iwobi is highly regarded by Emery because of his high work rate on and off the ball.Given the long term nature of Bellerins injury I’m surprised he has not been tried as a right back or RWB.Throughout the years many players have advanced their careers by moving back.Just a thought on a very hot day for someone my age.
@Grandad-the suns obviously got to you.Iwobi as a fullback?God Almighty!,,,
When Iwobi is mentioned Phil is always active
It’s my calling Pal
Happy to oblige
phil, boy, you are a gas man. i am so glad that you are not the manager at arsenal, even though i am pretty certain that you think you are . we had enough madcap years with the prof, lol.ozil is the very worst player at arsenal, he does not give a shite, he is undead, there is more life in a stone.
You must have ruined his day with this comment, lol…
Not at all PAL-If anyone seriously believes Iwobi is more talented tanned Mesut Ozil then what can I say?Other than you know very little about football.And as far as being manager at Arsenal?We all ate when you think about it.We all know best.We would all do things differently given the opportunity.We would all pick different teams.We would all buy different players.And more importantly we would all (well the same ones anyway) get rid of the talentless Iwobi.
I see you got the 3 main Nigerians on your case Phil ,I ignore them now ,only time you see them comment is on the iwobi articles which shows the true colours (green not red ).
i love the way that some older arsenal followers on this page readily volunteer the information that they are following the club for at least 50 or 60 years. that information is handed out at the drop of a hat. well that does not entitle you guys to any kind of different treatment. do you wish to be given long service medals ?. i am pretty sure that stan the man would duly oblige, as if he gives one a damn, lol.your way or no way it seems tobe, solely because of your long service, what a laugh.being older does not always guarantee that you are right. i am older, i am not being ageist, but i do not use my age and amount of time following the gunners as some kind of heroic act. are your lives that desperate that you need to be congratulated for long service. there are those of us on here who dont keep on repeating how long we are following the club. i cannot wait for the day when ozil the awful leaves arsenal, and this will happen, what will you people do then. not many wenker love childs left at the old club now , hahaha.
Dont mind him. Now tossing Iwobi into it again, nobody is comparing their talent but one is more of a liability than the other. Zaha in for Iwobi, Ozil out for anybody…lol