Alexi Iwobi is being eyed up by Lazio with a report in Italy claiming the Nigerian forward is not in Unai Emery’s plans.

Il Messaggero write that Iwobi, who reminds them of Felipe Anderson, could turn out to be ‘an opportunity not to be missed’.

They believe Arsenal would want a fee in the region of €25m for him.

Iwobi, 22, has certainly stalled since he broke through into the Arsenal first team under Arsene Wenger. I had been hopeful that under Emery he could kick on again and get back some of the sparkle we saw when he first made himself known to us.

Unlike a few others, Iwobi has been included in Arsenal’s pre-season tour of Singapore and Emery gave no hint that the Hale End graduate’s future was at risk and I’m not entirely sure why by I’m very skeptical of this whole story. I guess we should just wait and see how things develop.

Iwobi admitted that he ‘didn’t do well’ at the World Cup but admits being played out of position is a ‘sacrifice’.

Iwobi started for his country against Croatia before being benched for the games against Iceland and Argentina.

He played just one minute against each of those two teams and was substituted against Croatia. In total, Iwobi played just 62 minutes in Russia.

”The number ten position is where I have grown up playing. When I play out wide, it is normally to sacrifice to help the team but anywhere I am told to play, I don’t mind,” Iwobi told Kwese Sports Mimi Fawaz before the Super Eagles game against Argentina.

”I didn’t do well against Croatia, it was a hard game for everyone. Iceland, I came on and I did my best but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how I do as long as the team does well.”

In total, Iwobi has seven competitive international caps for his country since his debut in a friendly against DR Congo in October 2015.

Picking up a total of 22 caps, he has played 90 minutes just three times.

Nigeria finished third in Group D, one point behind second-placed Argentina. They won three points thanks to their 2-0 win over Iceland in their second game.