Alex Iwobi says the only reason he would consider leaving Arsenal is if he wasn’t playing regularly enough, and that he welcomes the addition of new signings which might put pressure on his place in the side.
The Nigerian international was speaking in relation to rumours about the potential capture of Wilfried Zaha who would play from the left hand side – the position in which the Arsenal man is usually deployed.
Whether that would mean more time on the bench, or being used in a different position, remains to be seen, but Iwobi wasn’t shy about the fact he’d scrap for his place.
“I am up for the fight,” he said.
“The only time I would consider leaving is if I am not playing as much as I would like to.
“Obviously, my joy is to play football and not just sit out. If it comes to that I would have no choice but to leave. But I would always put up a fight to play – that is what I have done all my life.
“We have big stars already, so by adding another one I’ll just have to prove I can do better than them.”
Alex returns to training late having been involved with Nigeria at the AFCON, and was cited by Unai Emery yesterday as one of the players who will add depth to the squad while we wait for new signings to be made.
Are we still in for Zaha then? Surely not for £80m?
Maybe Everton, maybe others.
I just wanna see him in a midfield three.
Think Iwobi would benefit himself and the team more in a midfield 3 or as the 10. He is fantastic until he gets in the box.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYc-Utu17To
The guy is like Diaby 2.0 with a touch of Okocha.
Sell him to fund the purchase of better players
There are other players that need to go first.
Not if you can’t sell them
Well as blogs said maybe we will have to cut our losses with some of them, sell for less money, move on and make sure that it won´t happen again in the future.
Or maybe we can sell players whom might have an actually transfer value and accept that high wages prohibit the sale of others? Mhki is still a better player than AI it’s just that he doesn’t justify his large wages.
If we’re going to use our academy to generate funds, this is a perfect test case isn’t it?
actual* not actually
Mhki certainly didn’t play better than Iwobi last season…
I´d personally still like to keep Alex Iwobi and try him maybe more from the middle.
I´d personally still like to keep Alex Iwobi and try to play him maybe more from the middle.
Mhki who? Comments like this is the reason arsenal will not win the league any time soon. Alex iwobi performed better than Mhki+Ozil if you consider the wages of them all.
Opportunity cost John
I don’t think there’s need for any real ‘order’ for players to go.
We may never sell Mhki, Ozil, Mustafi etc. but that shouldn’t stop us from selling a player like Iwobi. He’s consistently shown he can’t deliver as a regular first team player, at some point you either upgrade on him or continue to stagnate with him.
Now now, Sead. You wouldn’t be wishing for your pal Monreal to go now would you?
Don´t know about Sead but I am not a big fun of both our left back options these days. Let´s hope it changes in the near future.
classic arsenal supporters
We have far, far too much to do already this ummer without letting go of Iwobi, flaws and all.
That’s what Giroud use to say, chickened out as soon as faced with some competetion. Iwobi doesn’t have any buyers, he’s not even a 10m player yet. He had three seasons to cement his place in the team, wont feel sorry for him if he doesn’t get any game time, he’s gonna have to earn it..
Would badly like to see him in a midfield three. Back four is partially an enabler to do so, but we’re short of proper fullbacks to make it happen & Emery obviously realizes it as is evident from his comments about AMN & Kolasinac having to improve defensively in order to switch to back four. Both are better wingbacks than fullbacks but they are not actual world beaters so we end up compromising way more than we should. Hopefully we get to land (a fit) Tierney + I’d be open to a deal similar to Lichts’ last year as I don’t… Read more »
Agree with seeing Iwobi in a middle three, and I actually think AMN might be most effective in that role as well. He definitely shouldn’t be playing at fullback permanently anyway.
Ideally Iwobi wouldn’t be competing directly with Zaha or any other winger, because he’d be deployed in the middle where I reckon he’d be more effective.
I like Iwobi, and each season I wish he makes it to the next level, step up and be a regular in the first 11. But unfortunately I don’t think he is the player to take us to the next level. He has great games, but then he switches off in other games. Also for Arsenal he seems to have a lack of confidence in front of goal, compared to when he plays for Nigeria. If he wan5s to be in the first 11 regularly then he needs to step it up or leave. We need players who are commited… Read more »
Why can’t we just give our potentially good players a run out in their favoured positions?? Ox left, Gnabry left. Resting this iwobi might also consider this. I hope in the current squad we don’t do the same mistake with AMN, Reiss and Calum. If they don’t prove themselves in their favoured positions then let them leave.
I don’t want iwobi to leave just to be clear
Leave Arsenal? He should feel very fortunate to be at Arsenal. Another top ten club in the league wouldn’t touch him. He needs to keep his trap shut & focus on improving on his finishing which at the moment is woeful.
I agree 100% but the thumbs down lemmings cant handle it.
Just imagine the amount of flack he’d get if we had actually spent money on him?
The same was said about Oxlade and gnabry. See how much their stocks have risen.
No it wasn’t and neither of those players played as consistently as AI, whose played almost 150 matches for Arsenal now.
We basically lost Gnabry because we wouldn’t give him the opportunities handed to AI, let that sink in, there’s no comparison in quality between the two!
What’s Iwobi got to do with Gnabry?
Gnabry was because there was a hierarchy in place, with the likes of Theo and AOC ahead of him.
Iwobi came into the fold later on.
Gnabry also had a certain A. Sanchez ahead of him. I have some sympathy with Arsenal on Gnabry because I felt he left a little early, could have fought more for a place here. The Ox situation was silly though, especially considering our paucity of options at CM at the time.
I think this will be a decisive season for Iwobi, there are good young players pushing for a space in the team, and if his decision making and composure in front of goal doesn’t improve I can see him being sold next summer.
Hopefully, some shit mid-table team like Wolves will buy Iwobi so he can end up where he belongs. He was never top-six quality and doesn’t belong at Arsenal.
Isn’t it depressing that absolutely nothing has changed since the end of last season? No significant incomers and the same dross still hanging around the club. Despite all the bullshit from the club we have failed to improve the team in any way.
There’s room for improvement and consistency but I wouldn’t be letting him go. Very versatile.
We need 3 senior wingers next season to rotate. Players like Martinelli and Saka will feature in secondary competitions. BUT in the main frame of things we should be looking at Iwobi and Nelson plus one more (in addition to occasional use of Auba out wide or Nketiah) Everton Soares looks a good deal if Edu can bring it through. The going rate at the moment as I said all along is 30-35m Zaha is priced too high, Carrasco not worth it if there are better (sharper) options for close to similar price. Surprise we did not go with Overmar’s… Read more »
“As I said”
Fam, no-one gives a fuck what you said.
Not sure why some people are having a oan about Kolasinac. He was decent against Fiorentina. Excellent going forward maybe more suspect as fullback to wingback. BUT certainly not one we should see leave. Most of the attacking endeavor last season came from our left with Iwobi and Kola striking up a great understanding. It was when Emery switched to a back 4 that we encountered issues beginning with Mustafi second half with Palace but not any better for remainder of matches with Koscielny and Sokratis leaking 3 goals at Wolves and again at finals. Kolasinac’s game last 7 matches… Read more »
Iwobi: I may have to leave Arsenal if Zaha signs“ how football365 reported the same quotes ?
I wonder what type of fight Iwobi is up for, if he looks to leave when he loses his place and plays less.
Candy floss fighter.
I love iwobi, but he wouldn’t get a look in at any top 6 side, and that’s what we’re supposed to be.
Sounds harsh but at 23 he won’t get any better.
I’d offer him to Palace cos I’m pretty sure he won’t be the next Gnabry.