Recent reports suggested Everton were in talks with Alex Iwobi over a new contract, and speaking to the press ahead of his team’s trip to North London to face Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, manager Frank Lampard confirmed the news.
“I know that Kevin [Thelwell, director of football] is speaking with Alex’s people on that front,” said Lampard.
Iwobi was a product of the academy at Arsenal, where he was branded as a great talent and a future star for the Gunners. He earned first-team promotion in 2015, but after four years and 149 matches, the expectations changed and everyone involved realized things weren’t going to work out for him at the Emirates. Therefore, Arsenal agreed to let him go for a reported fee of around €30 million, and he made his way to Goodison Park in 2019.
Since then, Iwobi has represented the Toffees on 107 occasions in all competitions, finding the back of the opposition net eight times and grabbing 11 assists to his name as well. Previously deployed either as a winger or a No. 10, Lampard has reinvented the 26-year-old as a classic central midfielder, and he seems to be enjoying his new responsibilities on the pitch.
Iwobi has become extremely important for the way Lampard wants his team to play, and this season he has played every minute of every Everton match, nine in the Premier League and one in the Carabao Cup. His current contract is set to expire in the summer of 2024, but the club and the manager obviously want him to stay beyond that.
