Arsenal legend Nwankwo Kanu has congratulated Alex Iwobi on his new contract with Arsenal, after the 22-year-old committed his future to his boyhood club on Friday.
Arsenal announced the new contract on their club website, with Unai Emery telling the media he’s “very pleased” the Nigerian International has signed a new deal. Reportedly the new contract ties Iwobi down to the club for five years, until 2023.
Kanu was clearly happy with the news as well, and took to Twitter to give his congratulations and to wish Iwobi “higher success” with the club.
Congratulations @alexanderiwobi We wish you higher success at @arsenal Hard work pays. .#coyg #congrats #premiership #nigeria #arsenal #thankgod @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/iB6thuI9kY
— Kanu Nwankwo (@papilokanu) August 3, 2018
For Kanu, of course, there’s a double benefit to this contract extension. He can keep watching Iwobi at the club he once played for, and that in turn should mean the young Arsenal man continues to develop his game for a positive future with Nigeria.
Iwobi had a mixed season last campaign, as he struggled in front of goal, but did manage seven assists. More than that, his ability to progress the play forward continues to be valuable to the team, as he picks the right pass in the build up on the majority of occasions.
That sort of thing tends to go unnoticed, because the stats aren’t as publicly available as goal or assist tallies. You can still find the evidence to back the claim up if you look for it though:
this is to replace the previous one pic.twitter.com/VeddGpEGdn
— Cheuk Hei Ho (@Tacticsplatform) August 2, 2018
Let’s hope Iwobi pushes on and manages a bigger season in 2018/19.