“I nearly joined” – Iwobi reveals tiny margins that made him stay at Arsenal instead of moving to Scotland 

Super Eagles and Fulham midfielder, Alex Chuka Iwobi, has revealed he nearly joined SPFL side, Celtic, before making his debut for Arsenal, Soccernet.ng reports.

The 28-year-old versatile midfielder joined the famous Arsenal Hale End academy in 2004 at the tender age of eight, but he nearly got released when he was 14, and then again when he was 16.

Eventually, Iwobi made his debut for the Gunners senior team in 2015, and went on to win The Emirates FA Cup with Arsenal. He’s played for Everton and Fulham since then, but the journey could have taken another route, but for his and his family’s resilience.

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“When you actually have to leave school and it’s full time football, that’s when I thought ‘okay, it’s getting serious now that I need to buckle up’.

“At 16, I got told I had the option to leave Arsenal or go to another club or sign a scholar. So I was like, what do I do here?, because I mean, I couldn’t make, I just think of the decisions I made when I was 16 and none of them were sensible. You didn’t have an option to sign for Arsenal, I’m afraid.

“Everyone has different paths, but I’ve always had a great support system. Like my dad and my mum and my sister have always been around to say that,” the former Everton said on the Fulham Fix Podcast.

Iwobi added that he had offers from Crystal Palace and Celtic when he was 16, but his dream of playing for Arsenal lingered, and in the end, he chose to fight for his place.

“When I was younger, there’s many times I’ve been told, oh, you’re not good enough, you’re not good enough, and that was just another moment. I was the only one playing for England at the time that didn’t get offered a professional contract where there was like six of them.

“So I only just had a scholar and they said, ‘oh, if you want to go, you can go’.

“So I was meant to go to Celtic. I went to see Crystal Palace. I know there was one more team I can’t remember, but I remember going to Crystal Palace and training ground at 16.

“Me and my dad said ‘no, you’ve been in this position before where they said, you’re not good enough, go prove them wrong again’. So I was like, okay, cool, I’m going to sign my scholar.”

Iwobi has gone on to play 352 club career games across three clubs (Arsenal, Everton and Fulham). The Super Eagles star is enjoying his best season in the Premier League, with an output of seven goals and three assists in 27 games for Marco Silva’s side.