Introduction
Alexander "Alex" Iwobi (born 3 May 1996) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a winger and a striker for Premier League club Arsenal and the Nigeria national team.
Early and personal life
Iwobi was born in Lagos before moving to England at the age of four. He is the nephew of ex-professional footballer Jay-Jay Okocha.
Club career
Iwobi joined Arsenal while still at primary school, and was first involved in a first-team match as an unused substitute in a League Cup match against West Bromwich Albion on 25 September 2013. He signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal in October 2015.
On 27 October 2015, Iwobi made his first-team debut for the club, starting in a 3–0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the Round of 16 of the League Cup. He made his Premier League debut four days later in a 3–0 win against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium, as a stoppage time substitute for Mesut Özil. Iwobi made his Champions League debut as an 85th-minute substitute in a 5–1 defeat against Bayern Munich. Iwobi started in the first team for the 2015–16 FA Cup 3rd and 4th round home wins against Sunderland and Burnley respectively.
After getting a first Champions League start in a 3–1 away defeat to Barcelona, Iwobi went on to score two goals in his first two Premier League starts in wins against Everton, and Watford, respectively.
Iwobi changed squad number from 45 to 17, upon hearing that Alexis Sánchez will take up the newly vacated number 7 from the departing Tomáš Rosický.
International career
After playing youth football for England, Iwobi elected to play for Nigeria and made his senior debut on 8 October 2015, replacing Ahmed Musa in the 57th minute of a 2–0 friendly defeat to DR Congo in Visé, Belgium.
He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 14 January 2017
| 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 | Premier League | 13 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 2 |
| 2016–17 | Premier League | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | — | 26 | 3 | ||
| Career total | 30 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 5 | ||
International
- As of match played 12 November 2016
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 2015 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016 | 6 | 1 | |
| Total | 8 | 1 | |
Honours
- Individual
- CAF Young Player of the Year: 2016
- CAF Team of the Year: 2016
- AfricaNews (2017-01-07). "[LIVE] Algerian Riyad Mahrez is 2016 African Player of the Year". Africanews. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
- "CAF – CAF Awards – Previous Editions – 2016". CAFOnline. Retrieved 7 January 2017.