Arsenal: There is a problem, and Alex Iwobi isn’t the solution

Arsenal have had one large, recurring problem all year, and despite the hopes, Alex Iwob is not the solution. So someone else needs to be.

The Premier League season is over, and that leaves us poking around, trying to decide the best way for Arsenal to move forward with whatever it is that they play on doing. And with the summer clear out looming, we need to be extra honest about who is a part of the future and who isn’t.

There’s this guy named Alex Iwobi, who has been an up-and-comer for about three years now. He’s got a lot of wonderful ability and I think we all appreciate what he does for the club, but the bigger question we have to ask is simple: Is he a solution to anything?

The answer is no. And the worst part about it is that there is a major problem, with major questions being asked, and Iwobi is blatantly not the solution. It’s no diss on him, he just hasn’t developed in the role that he could have been the solution at. Maybe another role suits him better.

All year long we had one big problem – the creative midfield was a mess. Despite the plethora of names, both young and old, overpaid and underpaid, that riddled the ranks, there were always runs of ineffectiveness. Times where we couldn’t buy a chance.

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It was frustrating. It was annoying. It was inexplicable. How could so much talent not figure out how to do something that they’d been doing their whole life?

In that void, Alex Iwobi had a chance to stand out and prove himself a solution. It was clear that Unai Emery liked him, he gave him tons of chances. But now, at 23-years-old, despite still being young we have to ask the important question, the ruthless question. Can he be a solution to the problem?

Thus far into his career it’s been a big and undisputed ‘no.’ He’s useful in his ways, but not in the way we need him most.

So what does that mean? What do you do with him? Do you sell or keep him on as a sort of utility man?

Great question, me. The problem with keeping on is that I feel as though in order to justify it, you have to then expect him to, at some point, rise to the occasion and claim a bigger role. Otherwise you’re stuck with another Mohamed Elneny situation. He loses value and never rises to claim what could so easily have been his already.

There’s no easy answer. All I know is that he’s not the solution and he probably never will be. If you are okay with that, great, you an opt to keep him. But if you’re like me and you want to move on to other things, you can opt to sell him. Now what will Unai Emery do?