Arsenal academy graduate Alex Iwobi left the Emirates Stadium in 2019 in a big-money move to Everton and has now explained how the shock move to Goodison Park came about
Alex Iwobi has revealed he was given no choice but to leave Arsenal with Gunners chiefs keen to move him on. The Nigerian winger departed the Emirates back in 2019 in a £34m move to Everton.
The switch brought an end to Iwobi’s 15-year stint with Arsenal having graduated from the North London side’s academy. But he has revealed that he wasn’t particularly sold on a move to Goodison initially.
Speaking on The Inside Scoop podcast, Iwobi said: “Three or two days before the transfer deadline day, my agent said Everton are interested. I said nice. He said ‘what do you think?’ I said ‘I’m kind of comfortable at Arsenal.’ But Arsenal have just signed Pepe for this amount.
“They said ‘do you still want to stay?’ I said ‘Yeah, I don’t mind’. I’ve had competition all my life like that’s another winger. I’m going to respect him but I’m going to prove my point.”
And while Iwobi wasn’t too convinced on a switch to Merseyside, he soon realised that a return to Arsenal wasn’t an option. The now 29-year-old has revealed that Arsenal pushed through a swift sale from their side, with Iwobi not even getting the chance to bid farewell to his boyhood club.
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He added: “Normally, you need a medical before you go. He said ‘Arsenal have already handed in the medical, they might want you gone because they need to sell someone’. And they had players who weren’t ready to go. But the easiest one and the biggest fee was me. So I was like ‘ah Arsenal want to let get of me’.
“And you have to sign something on transfer deadline day to make sure you get an extra hour added. I had to sign that, I was in my room signing everything and eventually, it goes through.
“So I’ve landed back from Dubai. I just had to go train. I didn’t see anyone, collected my boots and go straight to Everton, didn’t say bye to no one. It was mad.
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Fortunately for Iwobi, he still got an explanation from former boss Unai Emery. Asked if he was hurt by the nature of his departure, he said: “Yeah a bit, at least let me decide for myself.
“It would have been nice to say bye but what was nice was I was staying in a hotel at the time and Arsenal must have played Liverpool. I come back from training and see the whole team having lunch.
“I spoke to Unai Emery and he said ‘look Alex, this is football, I didn’t want you to go, I had you in my plans, you’ve always been someone willing to work for the team. I didn’t want you to go but at the end of the day, this is business.’ I said there’s no hard feelings, it’s fine. He spoke to me on a level, that’s why I have respect for him. I’ve always had respect for him.”
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