“Alex Iwobi Should Have Picked Playing For England Over Nigeria” – Arsene Wenger
Arsenal manager has revealed that forward Alex Iwobi should have ignored Nigeria to play for England.
The 19-year-old who was born in Lagos, Nigeria but moved to England and represented them at the U-16, U-17 and U-18 levels.
He was eligible to play for England after before he was handed a call-up by Super Eagles, Sunday Oliseh.
Iwobi made his Super Eagles debut in a 2-0 friendly loss to Congo in October, 2015. Wenger however thinks that Iwobi is too good to play for Nigeria and should have chosen to play for England.
The Arsenal manager was speaking after Iwobi’s impressive performance for Arsenal in their 2-1 home win over Burnley in a FA Cup fourth round tie.
Iwobi was on from the start before he was substituted in place of Tomas
“I think he’s one England have missed because he plays for Nigeria now,” Wenger told the Guardian after Arsenal beat Burnley to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup.
“He should play for England. I don’t think he has played in a competitive game for Nigeria.”
Wenger then revealed he deliberately stopped Iwobi from representing Nigeria last year at the U-23 level.
“I remember I turned him down for an U-23 tournament. But then Nigeria called him up for the first team to force him to go,” Wenger added.
“I think he has shown everybody that he is a good football player, again. I find him personally very interesting.”