Former Arsenal striker and legend Ian Wright praised ex-player Alex Iwobi, saying the club “needs someone like him in midfield.”
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Alex Iwobi left Arsenal in 2019 to join Everton for £30 million and has since impressed. The Nigerian joined Arsenal as a winger but is now flourishing as a midfielder for Lampard’s Everton.
Despite the additions of Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira, Ian Wright believes Arsenal would have benefited greatly from Alex Iwobi’s pressing and ball progression.
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On the Wrighty’s House Podcast, he stated:
“I’m so pleased with the way it’s going for him. I remember Arsenal fans, it’s the same thing they did with [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain, they ridiculed him. I remember watching him play in midfield early days for Arsenal at West Ham, and you’re seeing something.”
“His ball progression and work rate, what Frank [Lampard] has now recognised in him and put him there. Listen to the Everton fans when he’s doing his work, they are adoring him now. I’m loving the way it’s working out for Iwobi.”
“I’m just talking about somebody who’s making a massive difference to what Everton need – the work rate, his ball progression, his passing, everything. He’s the pass before the assist, people don’t realise it.”
“You look at his work rate, it’s unbelievable. It’s the kind of intensity that Mikel wants now and needs now, we need that, we need somebody who can press like that.”