Everton and Nigeria midfielder Alex Iwobi has been described as the side’s “best player.”
That is the opinion of freelance journalist Damilola Alagbe, who tweeted in praise of the 26-year-old’s performance following the Toffees’ 2-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United on Sunday.
Frank Lampard has turned the winger into a midfielder this season, something which has greatly improved his performance, with the former Arsenal man now being described as “flourishing” in his new role.
The 2019 £34m summer signing scored a brilliant goal to open the scoring in the visit of the Red Devils, before goals from Antony and Cristiano Ronaldo turned the game on its head.
And Alagbe was full of praise of Iwobi, after another excellent performance for Lampard’s side.
Iwobi has moved from that player who joined Everton from Arsenal, and was trying to find his feet,” Alagbe tweeted.
“He is the best player at Everton right now.”
TIF Thoughts on Alagbe’s comments
We find it difficult to disagree with Alagbe at this moment in time, and believe that Iwobi has played to an exceptional level at the beginning of this campaign.
The Everton star, who was signed for around £27m, ranks in the top 11% of midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues and European competition for dribbles completed per 90 minutes (1.34) over the last 365 days according to FBref, suggesting that he is capable of driving the team forward from the centre of the park, something in which the club didn’t really have previously.
And an average SofaScore rating of 6.97 for his Premier League performances this season suggest that he is excelling in the middle of the park, ranking him as the side’s sixth highest-rated player of the campaign so far.
However, the stats don’t actually suggest he had the best of games as he managed just 73 % passing accuracy, had 65 touches, completed zero crosses, zero long balls and lost three duels. But, he did come up with two key passes (Sofascore).