Reports have emerged that Alex Iwobi is the subject of interest Lazio.
The Serie A outfit are looking to replace Felipe Anderson, now at West Ham and coach Simone Inzaghi is interested in the 22-year-old’s creativity.
Unai Emery is reportedly not too keen on the idea of using the player regularly, with the Spanish tactician ready to sanction his sale in a bid to fund moves for other players.
Iwobi has been valued at £22m, but for a player of his quality in this transfer window, it’s almost next to nothing. If Arsenal are to let him go, he should go for top money as prices for technical players have reached fever pitch.
Iwobi is a full Nigerian international and while he wasn’t at his best in Russia, it was not for a lack of talent but because he didn’t fit into the manager’s philosophy. The fact that defenders are going for £60m upwards means that if Arsenal decide to let him go, the interested clubs must pay his original value based on the current transfer market.
It would be wrong to say that Iwobi has been outstanding for us, but his selfless movement and swift shifting of the ball creates space of other players in a way not dissimilar to Jesse Lingard at Manchester United. If Iwobi, too, can start to add goals to his game, we are looking at potentially a useful team player.
His contract runs till the summer of 2020, meaning that the club are not under any obligation to sell him this summer. Iwobi broke onto the scene in October 2015 and has since established himself as a valuable member of the first team.
He has his special moments but those moments are too far and in between, which has frustrated a lot of Gunners fans who feel his productivity is not matched with his undisputed talent. £22m for Iwobi will be a profit for Arsenal, but in this market, he should be going for nothing less than £35m.
He should still fight for his Arsenal future and prove to his manager that he is worthy of wearing the jersey.
Shortermism. We made the same comments about Gnabry and see what he became later after he left Arsenal. In Arsene Wenger’s last days at Arsenal, he lost not only his game management, he lost his ability to nurture talent the way he had done in the past. See the Ox, Gnabry, Chambers, Holding, Bellerin, Xhaka – they all stagnated or went backwards in the last years of Wenger. The same is true of Iwobi. Let’s give the new manager time to work his magic before behaving like Morinho how sold DeBruyne, Lukaku etc only to regret it later.