Alex Iwobi is hoping his performance midweek against Fleetword Town will help turn around his career at Everton.
The Arsenal youngster was sold to Everton last summer in a move many fans were unhappy with. Although the club netted £27.36m for the now 24-year-old, many saw it as an unacceptable sale.
Iwobi’s performances since moving north have, sadly, cushioned the blow somewhat. He returned just three goals and two assists in 32 games last season, averaging a direct goal involvement every four-and-a-half games based on minutes played.
He has also only completed the full 90 minutes in an Everton shirt eight times and three of those have come in the League Cup, including his performance against Fleetwood last week in which he scored and assisted against the League One side.
“It’s good experience for me to build fitness and I’m ready for all competitions so it’s good of the manager to give me this opportunity,” Iwobi said after the 5-2 win midweek in the Carabao Cup. Iwobi’s assist was for Everton’s second and his goal their third, coming a minute after Mark Duffy had pulled it back to 2-1 for Fleetwood.
“It’s always good to score but the main thing is the team goes through to the next round. I’m glad I was able to help.
“Everyone wants to play and I’m trying my best to play in all competitions – hopefully I can give the manager a headache and play as much as I can!”
Iwobi didn’t feature in Everton’s opening two games of the season but that was due to an injury problem rather than selection issues.
At Arsenal, Iwobi played a total of 149 times, scoring 15 and assisting 27, a DGI of one every 2.4 games based on minutes played.
In his final season, under Unai ‘what is attacking football’ Emery, Iwobi played 51 times, scoring six and assisting nine, averaging just under 55 minutes per game.
Everton went top of the table on Saturday with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace. Iwobi’s performance against Fleetwood was not enough to earn him a place in the starting lineup under Carlo Ancelotti.
Iwobi did, however, come off the bench for the final four minutes.