Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi has said he is treated
like a king whenever he travels to Nigeria to
play for the Super Eagles.
The 20-year-old forward chose to represent
his country of birth instead of England.
Iwobi, who is nephew to former Eagles
captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, left Lagos
when he was four years old and after a brief
stay in Turkey, was raised in east London.
He made his Nigeria debut in a 2017 African
Cup of Nations qualifier against Egypt in
Kaduna.
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“Everyone appreciates you.
You’re almost like a king!” He
told The Guardian.
“When I arrived at the airport, I
thought, I’ll just have my
earphones in, but everyone was
like ‘Iwobi! Iwobi!’ Oh gosh. Hi
guys! I didn’t know what to
expect. It was just mad.
“I always go with Kelechi
Iheanacho. When we go, we get
escorted. Because I’m not used to
the Nigerian culture as much as
they are, they do help me with it.
I can’t really speak the language
that well. They help me with the
fans. The fans are very different
there. They don’t ask me for
autographs, they ask for boots,
money.
“At my debut, we played in a
stadium that holds 30,000 and
there was 60,000 – I don’t
understand how. People were
standing on the floodlights, on
the scoreboard. I was thinking,
‘What? This isn’t even safe!’ But
people there will do anything to
watch the match.
“Sometimes in a Premier League
game the fans are a bit quiet but
in Nigeria you just hear
trumpets, everything. The
atmosphere is so different
compared to England.”
