Alex Iwobi - the future Arsenal star who slipped through England's fingers
The Nigeria-born winger has represented England at youth level but looks set to commit his international future to the country of his birth by playing against Egypt on Friday
Such is the mood at the Emirates Stadium that a three-month loan deal for Lionel Messi would probably be greeted as too little, too late but Iwobi has rare potential and England appear to have missed out on it.
The winger is likely to make his competitive debut for Nigeria on Friday against Egypt, permanently committing himself to playing for the Super Eagles. A bout of “the maddest food poisoning”, as Iwobi described it on Twitter, briefly threatened to rule him out of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier but he was back on the training pitch on Tuesday as the butt of well-natured jokes about his intolerance for Nigerian pepper soup. Iwobi was born in Lagos but has spent all but the first four months of his life in London.
It is curious and surprising that there has not been more of a clamour to tie down a player of Iwobi’s obvious talent to his adopted nation rather than the one of his birth. The Football Association pursued Jack Grealish, who was eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland, for the best part of half a decade from his call up to the Under-17 squad at age 15 to his decision to commit to the Three Lions last year. Iwobi played through England’s youth groups but has suddenly been lost just as the country is getting to know him at club level.
Perhaps Iwobi would never have been convinced. He is the nephew of 75-time Nigeria international Jay-Jay Okocha and his father Chuka said in February: “Alex is very, very keen and the entire family is enthusiastic for him to represent Nigeria. He turned out for England at Under-16, Under-17 and Under-18 levels in a number of friendlies and invitational tournaments, but we are all eager for him to play for Nigeria at senior level.”
This is plenty of evidence to suggest, however, that Iwobi’s decision was not already made. In January, he admitted that “ordinarily” he would have “loved” to have played for England, but explained that he had been persuaded to represent Nigeria by Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and his father.
It is not surprising their advice proved influential but Arsene Wenger, who will not say it publicly but would have liked to avoid losing a first-team player to mid-season Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, does not appear to have
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