Arsenal’s youth supremo, Andries Jonker, has lavished praise on Alex Iwobi after the 19 year old caught the eye with the first team this season.
Iwobi has made 8 appearances, getting a run out in every competition so far, and he’s been trusted more than once by Arsene Wenger to play in Mesut Ozil’s position.
He’s moved into the first team dressing room, a rite of passage so to speak, and Jonker is backing the Nigerian international to continue to make an impact.
“Alex is incredibly motivated, dedicated, willing to work and open to listening,” he said.
“He is always trying to improve himself. That makes him a perfect player because, with the talent he has already, he can continue to develop.
“Every now and then we have had players who have attracted attention but I think the one who has succeeded most is Alex Iwobi, who is with the first team now.”
It’s interesting to hear him speak of Iwobi’s willingess to listen, and to compare that to Chuba Akpom who twice this season has had tantrums that left him on the wrong side of Hull manager Steve Bruce.
Every player has their own personality, of course, but maybe there’s something to be read into the fact Iwobi has first team chances this season.
Willy Jonker and the Striker factory
Don’t upset the Chuba Lumpa…
*grabs coat*
& don’t forget Charlie George Bucket…
*grabs hat & scarf*
Really exciting talent. Without getting too overexcited, I’m very much looking forward to watching him develop.
same age bracket as The Jeff and Zelalem – really excited again about the prospects of arsenals youthful midfield.
Seen bits of sublime quality from both The Jeff and Guedion – but character, work-rate, effort, confidence and mentality? Iwobi wins hands-down. He’ll be a fixture in the first team for a long, long while.
Quality comment
If we choose to move Ozil out to right wing at some point in time, I’d like to see how he pairs up with Ramsey and Coq in the middle of the pitch. Heck, it wouldn’t hurt my feeling to see him see some time out on the right wing either.
Move ozil to the right? never.
Ozil on the right!? Why? We might as well put him in goal. Ozil is the supreme passer, and (for me, anyway) he’s got to stay central.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Iwobi on the right, but Ozil on the right is crazy talk.
The little that I know of football and the little that I have seen him on TV it looks like Iwobi is a central player. Facing goalwards, I don’t want to see him with his back to the touchline
He looks a real talent and ticks all the boxes, driving runs, distribution and coverage of the field (the much maligned “workrate”).
In order to take profit Iwobi EXCEPTIONAL talent and to AT LAST win the PL, why not putting Özil in the goal, Kos on the left, Merte as a striker, Sanchez as central defender, Theo as well, Giroud left back, myself right back…
I think i have a point, no?
Or, no, let’s sell Özil and let’s put Iwobi instead as playmaker. This is the only way to win it, guys!
He seems to be progressing well. What impresses me mostly about him when he was played in the middle was the confidence and maturity he showed on the ball, good decision making, nothing risky, actively looking for the ball, linking up play well, passing the ball forward most of the time and not scared of making himself available for the next pass, even when the midfield is congested……i think he will end up being one of arsene’s success stories.
his ball control is spectacular as well, and I think he got an assist in one of those games too, and I do have a soft spot for those elegant long legged midfielder and their laissez faire style (i.e. Diaby)
His distribution and knowing when to pass the ball is what caught my eye! That’s overlooked constantly and much more important for a younger player.
Defs has a bit of Diaby about him…
100% agree with you bims. One more thing that I’d like to add though which really impresses me is his work rate. He really puts a shift in whenever he plays. Hope him and Toral (who I believe got big potential too) take up other players places in the first team who leave us at the end of the season.
Is it only me, or half of what I read here is “X praises Y” comments? I’m getting a little sick of this, especially when the times are frustrating for us.
Good thing for him is we have so much quality over the team during these break through years. Compare it to wilshere in 10/11 and a injury returning Ramsey in 11/12 who were both forced to play virtually every game, which seems to have knackered Jack completely! Cmon Alex, love an Arsenal boy becoming an Arsenal first 11, the proper way too.
Obi Wan Iwobi is going to more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
I like how he doesn’t have his socks tied up, which is Brady-esque and also winds up Steve Bould to the point of distraction according to a mate who is about 8 rows back from the bench
he looks pretty decent as a prospect, too. fingers crossed!
Playing him on the right is an interesting idea. With Coq, Ramsey, Alexis, Ozil, Giroud. Could balance the team as he has shown better ability to aid the team in holding possession and displays coherent ideas with the ball.
We’ve got so many on the wings now. Sanchez, The Ox, Welbeck, Campbell, Gnabry, Iwobi. I think one of these guys at least is bound to get the cut. We need a near-Sanchez level attacking presence on the wings if we can’t find enough goals from strikers. I am looking at Campbell, Gnabry and Welbeck. One or two among them might be moved on. We have too many good players instead if great players.
On an entirely separate topic, I’m glad to see the Liverpool walkout causing the owners to backtrack on their ticket price increase. Wonder why we can’t stage a similar protest?
Because at least Liverpool owners talk and engage with their fans. Stan just stays silent and slowly bleeds us :/
And now he has to find the 725mil for his new 520,000 acre piece of Texas, don’t think prices will be dropping anytime soon!
Good idea. They will cap tickets at £93 so we all walk out after…..er 93 minutes.
Lol
Let’s be honest, would anyone really notice any difference if the Emirates emptied after 77 minutes, or didn’t fill up until the fifth? This happens every game anyway.
do you realize that AFC have already announced a price freeze. Also with lfc doing away with Cat A, Cat B and Cat C, but now having one price for all games, it means their fans will pay £59 for games v the likes of norwich, bournemouth, while Arsenal fans will pay £26 for these sort of games. it will be very interesting to see what sort of attendance LFC get against the lesser teams next season, when the price for these match will have risen a lot.
No point in walking out in the 93rd minute perhaps?
Actually, what Liverpoo have done now is far more disingenuous than raising just their most expensive ticket price. While the top price will remain at £59 pounds, they’ve eliminated tiering games in categories, so ALL matches are now category A and subject to the £59 price. This means that their top price season ticket, which would have been around £1040 under the originally proposed regime, will now actually RISE to around £1120 because of the lack of tiering.
FSG must be laughing all the way to the bank.
The biggest compliment for him is that he never looked out of place when playing with the first team.
It’s just shows what a talent he is with Wenger placing so much faith in him to replace Ozil to allow him a breather
Pity he chose Nigeria over England as Wenger has shown in the past that he doesn’t like his young ‘English’ players electing to play for their or their parents’ birthland.
… What???
If I’ve parsed the sentence correctly: Wenger does not like his young ‘English’ players playing for England, nor the country in which the aforementioned young player’s parents were born (which may, or may not, be England).
I think your parsing is correct … but the statement still makes no sense at all.
The only reason to pity choosing Nigeria is the timing of the Africa Cup Of Nations, I’m sure Wenger would have much PREFERRED him to represent England, and clearly selects him on quality not his passport.
you are totally wrong about Wenger in this case. Moreover, he has a better chance of playing regularly with Nigeria than if had chosen to play for England.
Whatever reason you said that for, i say fuck off.
Instead of applauding a brave decision by a youngster to embrace his nation of birth, youre saying this. Do you know how much disregard Ibe is held in for his utterances ? Theres nothing quite as blessing to a player as picking his nation of birth over the over-exploitatory Westerner.
Also, he isn’t going to be the next Agbonlahor etc and waste away while waiting for Englands call up.
This is an angry rant.
Based on your response, I think it would have been braver to represent England.
the only reasons Arsenal would prefer him to play for England is due to the two things,
One. the ANC being played in middle of the English season,
Two. the changes to the homegrown rule that favors English lads
it has never mattered to AFC where a player is from or who the play for, if it does not directly effect the team, and Iwobi picking Nigeria does effect the team, and by the way he has only played in a Friendly, so he could very well yet pick to play for England.
But homegrown rule has nothing to do with nationality, no?
I believe he is going to take the wonderful footstep of legendary JJ Okocha. The sky should be his limit. He is actually grabbing the opportunities being given to him. We all wish him well. It is shear stupidity to suggest that he should have chosen to play for England. Does it really matter the country he plays for? Maybe all the foreign Arsenal players should change their nationality to England…to make you happy mate!
Goonerinfrance, that’s an outrageous. Comment to say the least. Anyway, as a Nigerian I’m proud he chooses to play for his father land.
Iwobi, Nwakale and that other chap. Our future is Nigeria! Must make the Nigerian chap on Arsenal fan tv all chuffed.
Nice to hear. How about The Jeff, how’s he doing?
“It’s interesting to hear him speak of Iwobi’s willingess to listen, and to compare that to Chuba Akpom who twice this season has had tantrums that left him on the wrong side of Hull manager Steve Bruce.” FFS blog, you really need to cut this out. You take something out of nothing and then speculate about random player’s particularly with youth, with little to no evidence. You did this with Gnabry, when speculated out of nothing that maybe he wasn’t putting in the work in training (when later a WBA first team Coach later revealed it was more to do… Read more »
There was a second one on the training ground, reported last week. What I said about Gnabry came from information I’d received from somebody. I wasn’t speculating. I didn’t say much at all about Wellington’s attitude, only his chances of making it at Arsenal. I didn’t say anything about Coquelin’s attitude at all. In fact, if you were to read carefully, you’ll see that I’ve always thought he was a good player, but if I was negative about his future it was because of his circumstances. I’ve never known a player to come back from that far out and make… Read more »
Fair enough with the first bits, and I had no idea there was a second incident. But I just don’t see the need to make the comparison. Saying “maybe there’s something in the fact Iwobi is the one getting first team chances at Arsenal, while Akpom is out on loan” is pretty damn a good fit for speculation. That reasoning could be used for any number of our loanees; from Toral to Zelalem (all 3 play in similar positions). Heck you could go one further and say that’s maybe the case with Iwobi and The Jeff, who’s still at Arsenal,… Read more »
People are clever enough to make up their own minds, for the most part.
And if you’re a regular reader, you know I’m not the kind of writer who has it in for specific players, or wants to cause needless negativity.
Except about Theo 😉
I kid. Honest.
No you don’t.
But the difference is…..you’re right on Theo. 😛
Excitable responses – I wasn’t criticising Iwobi who is an amazing talent and I hope that he achieves his goals (sic) whatever country he represents, and hopefully the Gunners can benefit along the way. COYG
The Jeff is more Diaby-ish than Iwobi.
Kinda of beat me, haha, to point. However, I’ve played with a lot of strikers and most of the more effective ones were cunts on the field. But hey, they were our cunts.