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Arsenal are excited, and rightfully so, about the progress of Alex Iwobi. The young man is proving that he can match Kelechi Iheanacho’s early success.
The race for the next big thing is alive and well in the Premier League and Arsenal, as always, has a foot in the race. Alex Iwobi, the Nigerian wonderboy and the foot I speak of, is only growing stronger and stronger with each passing day and many are saying he has overtaken Marcus Rashford in the race.
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We have to start looking ahead to where he can end up. How high is the ceiling on this young man, and is there a way we can actually gauge it?
One way we can look at is we can compare him to his countryman and Manchester City’s foot in the ‘next big thing race’, Kelechi Iheanacho. Iheanacho has long been accepted as having all of the necessary components to succeed at this top tier of club football.
You could even make the case that without Sergio Aguero, Manchester City would be just fine. Look how well they did with Aguero out with suspension. Iheanacho has nabbed two goals and three assists in just 185 minutes. That’s a very healthy goal production rate, but I didn’t need to tell you that.
Iheanacho’s progress is quite plain to see. His quality is permeating and when it’s his chance, he will prove himself like he always has.
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Alex Iwobi, the same age as Iheanacho, can seemingly be judged based on how he compares to his countryman. Internationally, the signs are starting to pick up. Iwobi has been matching Iheanacho goal for goal in the Nigerian international side, and this is with the knowledge that Iwobi is more of a provider where as Iheanacho is a scorer.
It reflects in their club stats. Iheanacho has accumulated 11 goals and four assists. Iwobi has nabbed two goals and five assists. They’ve played a similar amount of time.
All signs point to these two being on the same technical level. They are combining wonderfully at the international side, so why not believe that they are on the same club level? Iheanacho has had a system that is more conducive towards his piling on the hard statistics.
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Give Iwobi some more time to ingratiate himself within the Arsenal system and he can maximize his potential just like Iheanacho has. At just 20 years old, the ceiling is massively high on this young man, just as high as it is with Kelechi Iheanacho.