The Liverpool Echo’s head of sport David Prentice has recently aired some criticism of Everton’s Nigerian attacker Alex Iwobi.
The former Arsenal man is now in his second season at Goodison Park having moved to Merseyside from the Gunners during the summer of 2019 in a deal which could rise to £34m (per BBC).
Since being signed by the Toffees, the 24-year-old winger has made 36 appearances in which he has provided a paltry three goals and three assists (per Transfermarkt).
During Everton’s recent 2-0 defeat to Southampton, Iwobi picked up a weak performance rating of 6.14/10, meaning he was the sixth-worst Everton performer on the day (per WhoScored).
In a recent episode of the Liverpool Echo’s Royal Blue: The Everton FC Podcast, Prentice discussed Iwobi and aired some criticism of him.
He said: “His bright start was very short-lived [against Southampton]. For me, he just makes too many bad decisions. I mean, maybe we underestimate how effective that dovetailing is between Richarlison and [Lucas] Digne.
“There was one moment where he actually found some space in the penalty area and Digne made a great run to actually overlap and he just needed to be played in and then he had a cross across the six-yard box, hopefully, for somebody to knock in.
“And he didn’t [cross], he ignored the pass and he checked back.
“It’s only a subtle thing, but if he just made that pass which, probably, Richarlison would have done, it would have been that much more dangerous.
“From that point, it just progressively got worse until there was that embarrassing one where he just missed the ball on the byline entirely. It was an opportunity for him and he didn’t take it.”
TIF Thoughts on what David Prentice had to say about Alex Iwobi…
As can be seen in what Prentice had to say, he believes that “bad decisions” are the main drawback to Iwobi’s performances for the Toffees.
Should Everton be looking to sell Alex Iwobi in the January transfer window?
No, he's a useful player
Yes, he needs to go
So far this season, the Nigerian has made five top-flight appearances for Carlo Ancelotti’s side in which he has not scored a goal but he has provided one assist (per WhoScored).
Across those five outings, the attacker has earned a weak 6.31/10 average rating which has made him Everton’s fourth-worst performer in the league so far this season.
So, that would certainly seem to back up what the journalist had to say about the 24-year-old winger.