Iwobi’s rise to fruition has been a fast one, having broken onto the scene last season and getting his first Champions League start in a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona at the Nou Camp, it’s fair to say that the Nigerian international has adapted to the pressures of top flight football. The 19-year-old is also the nephew of legendary attacking midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha.
“He is always telling me that he knows a lot has happened and that I have come far, but he says to stay humble and that I will go far,” Iwobi said in an interview with Arsenal’s official website last season.
Humility is one facet of Iwobi’s game which remains hard to come by in today’s professional footballers. He comes from a tight-knit family background and is never pictured leaving nightclubs or doing anything untoward, with many players his age more used to featuring on the front pages of newspapers instead of the back. That’s why Arsene Wenger has put such faith in the youngster over the past season and a half.
“What I like is his love for the game, his passion for the game and his hard work”, lauded the Frenchman following the 4-1 win over Hull last weekend.
Wenger has had plenty of talented academy graduates over the years. The main reason why only a select few have become first-team regulars is not necessarily down to talent and more a case of attitude. Iwobi is humble and emits confidence - not arrogance - when he’s on and off the pitch. He has the most assists for Arsenal in 2016, more than Mesut Ozil, and his impressive displays in the opening few Premier League games this season show that he is ready for another explosive campaign.
Six Arsenal academy products have gone on to make over 10 appearances for the club in the top flight, while nine altogether have played for the first team. Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ appearance in an unfamiliar position at right-back against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night continued Wenger’s trend of fielding young talents in the League Cup matches.
In comparison, Chelsea’s considerably better and more successful academy system, albeit only over the last six years, has produced an abundance of talents but only two have made more than 10 Premier League appearances - Blues skipper John Terry and highly rated England starlet Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The impressive set-up at Chelsea has seen them win the FA Youth Cup for the past three years and victory over Paris Saint-Germain in last season’s UEFA Youth League cemented the Stamford Bridge side as Europe’s best.
But Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo was forced to defend the club’s record of nurturing young talent last season and went on a defensive by criticising Tottenham’s record of academy graduates. It was a ploy that may have worked in the short term by taking the heat off the Blues.
"What we want them to do is to be patient because they [the parents] want it quicker than the boys want it or the boys are ready to take it,” said Emenalo.
"It's a massive job to try to keep them patient and to keep them going until they get here, but I think from next season there will be signs."
The signs this season show that it is unlikely to change anytime soon, with England Under-19 star Ola Aina the most realistic option for Antonio Conte to choose from, while Loftus-Cheek could also feature. Arsenal, meanwhile, have Chuba Akpom lurking in the background hopeful of breaking into the first team. The striker is confident of following in Iwobi's footsteps and he produced an impressive performance in the EFL Cup clash against Forest - but Arsenal's academy system is still lagging behind.
"There’s a lot of work to be done there," former Arsenal youth coach Terry Burton was quoted as saying in 2014.
"Arsenal, with respect, have fallen behind. They just weren’t working hard enough, like Chelsea.
"They’ve got the best pathway, because they’ve got Arsène Wenger, who gives young players a chance, better than any other club. But the processes, and things that had just been missing over a period of years, Chelsea had steamed ahead in their recruitment and all aspects of it really.
"That gap can close. But it’s too soon to tell. The guy there [Andries Jonker] ... you’ll have a better idea in five years.”
The Gunners' appointment of Jonker as youth chief drew criticism from some when it was announced, but has since proven to be a coup. Louis van Gaal's former assistant manager at Bayern Munich has completely overhauled the club's Hale End academy, making multi-million pound renovations and revealing that he wants to imprint an Arsenal identity on the next generation of graduates.
Those changes will take time, though, and while Chelsea continue to stockpile players Arsenal are giving theirs a chance. It's a process that will benefit the Gunners in the long term and perhaps harm the Blues when they have a vast number of unhappy young players on their hands.
Iwobi's inclusion in the squad for Saturday's game at Emirates Stadium is a mark of how two London rivals do things very differently - whether you agree with them or not - and Arsenal's success at bringing young players into the first team has certainly worked so far.
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