Despite having a torrid time in his first season with Everton after joining from Arsenal three years ago, Alex Iwobi has admitted patience and perseverance were the ingredients that aided his recent success under coach Frank Lampard.
Iwobi said that he overcame obstacles to play the best football of his career at Everton, as well as thriving under Lampard and his coaching staff, coupled with the confidence Evertonians are giving him are what he wants to achieve with the Blues.
Iwobi, who signed from Arsenal three years ago last month, joined the Blues aged 23, having made 149 appearances for the Gunners and winning the FA Cup and reaching the Europa League final along the way.
Now, however, Iwobi has firmly established himself as one of the most important players in the squad and, despite his characteristically modest reflections, a clear fan favourite.
But was there ever a moment where he thought things wouldn’t work out at Everton?
“No,” Iwobi explains, without hesitation. “I never had the mindset that it wasn’t going to work here.
“I had the mindset that I’d turn it around and when the opportunity came with the new manager, I used it as a new chapter of my life and said to myself, ‘Forget the past. What’s happened has happened… Now let’s go again’.
“What I realised here is fans appreciate 100 percent, as long as you show that you can do everything because there’s a reason you’re here at Everton – because you have the ability.”
He added: “I had the mindset that I’d turn it around and when the opportunity came with the new manager, I used it as a new chapter of my life and said to myself, ‘Forget the past. What’s happened has happened… Now let’s go again.”
With the huge support from his family, Iwobi said: “I have a good support system around me – my family, my friends, and people at Everton who are there to talk to you and help you through difficult situations. And, at the same time, every footballer is going through similar things. It’s good having people to talk to.
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