Everton boss Marco Silva has said that he will remain patient with Alex Iwobi, who was the club’s deadline day signing from Arsenal this summer. The Nigeria international has yet to make his debut for the Toffees this season and he was an unused substitute during the club’s 1-0 win over Watford last weekend.
Speaking in a press conference, Silva said that the former Arsenal graduate is looking forward to making his debut for the Merseyside outfit. However, he added that the Nigeria international won’t be rushed into action, given he has just spent a couple of weeks in training following the late return after the African Cup of Nations.
He told: “He is looking forward to that [making his Everton debut]. He started [pre-season] late, this is just his second week working with the team. We have to take care of the situation and give him enough time to get fitter. He is getting better and if I decide he will be ready, then he will give that high quality. I have no doubt about that.”
Iwobi had a promising season under Gunners boss Unai Emery last term where he was able to showcase more on the attacking point of view. However, he still struggled to find the cutting edge to the gameplay in the final third and that had frustrated a section of the fans. Up to the final days of the summer transfer window, there was not much speculation over the attacker’s future and things happened quite quickly with the Toffees agreeing on a deal just minutes before the deadline.
With the Gunners, Iwobi was largely played out of position on the wings where he could not make a regular impact. However, that could change with the Toffees where he may get the chance to impress from the much-preferred attacking midfield role. Gylfi Sigurdsson has commanded the position over the past two years but Silva has shown previously that he is not afraid of swapping players, when a drop in performance is noted.
