Forget the numerous occasions when Alex Iwobi has played at the Emirates Stadium, Goodison Park and Craven Cottage, or even when he faced Ivory Coast in Abidjan in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final. The most nervous he has been was in Dubai this summer – and not when the dog-loving Fulham midfielder headed out for a walk with a lion, which he did in June at a local zoo. It was a request from Ramz, the British rapper Iwobi has collaborated with on Hop Out, the latest single the Nigeria international has released under his pseudonym 17, to join him on stage for a live performance that really struck fear into him.
“I thought: ‘I’m not sure yet. I’m just not sure yet,’” Iwobi says. “But maybe in the near future I might start. I’ve done one live performance which felt a bit weird – there was a live band playing the drums and I had to literally use it as an instrument, which felt crazy, but I enjoyed it. It’s all about timing …”
On the evidence of Iwobi’s appearance on Uefa’s Champions League Off Pitch show on YouTube that was recorded in April when Hop Out was released, he could be on to something. It has been some time since footballers releasing singles was a semi-regular occurrence – think Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle’s duet on Diamond Lights in 1987 or Ian Wright’s Do the Right Thing in 1993. But music is in the blood for Iwobi, who started out freestyling on the back of the bus on his way to school in Essex, progressed to his own studio at home, and whose uncle Jay-Jay Okocha, the Bolton and Nigeria legend, released a 1994 single I I Am Am J J.
“Looking at them, especially Ian Wright, he literally did whatever he wanted,” Iwobi says. “He expressed himself, gave 100% in football, but also enjoyed his life. So I would also use him as a role model that I still give 100% in my football. But I like to have fun on the pitch as well as off the pitch, so that’s my way with music, with fashion, with charity stuff. There’s a lot of things I do just to … I wouldn’t say get distracted, but just, like, have a moment or just to breathe.”
Iwobi visited Paris fashion week on his summer holidays and was interviewed about his “dog-fit” outfit for walking his two four-year-old huskies – “it’s the clothes I wear and I don’t mind them just getting dog hair; when I’m with my dogs, literally I turn into a husky all the time” – but football remains his main passion.
He is speaking a few days after his team, also featuring Nottingham Forest’s Callum Hudson-Odoi, were beaten in a penalty shootout at his annual Project 17 tournament, which teamed up with the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) to raise money and awareness about the severe shortage of donors in the black community. He says he has recovered from the disappointment of not making the final and suggests there may have been “bit of cheating” from Tyrique Hyde, a former Love Island contestant and semi-professional player who is one of Iwobi’s best friends from childhood.
“I said I was not going to leave my tournament, or leave the stadium, until we win,” Iwobi says with a laugh. “Unfortunately I had to get escorted off because we did not win. It doesn’t matter – well, it kind of does matter who wins, but I’m telling myself it doesn’t! Using my football platform, we also brought ACLT to educate and teach people about people that are going through blood problems or stem cell problems. You never know who’s going through it so it’s just nice to educate people about that as well.”
Such is Iwobi’s love for the game that during a spell at Everton when he wasn’t playing he donned a balaclava to hide his trademark dreadlocks so he could join his friends in a five-a-side game in Manchester. “The sort of hair I have, I wouldn’t want it to cause another story. It just shows that I really do enjoy playing football, especially with my friends. Inside it would be frustrating because everyone just wants to play football. When you’re not going to get an opportunity to play football I just took it as like: ‘Well, I need to showcase and improve and show that I have the ability to be starting, to be playing.’”
Iwobi, who joined Fulham in September 2023, has just enjoyed his best campaign, as he referenced in his only live musical performance with the line: “Comments on the tweets saying ‘stay focused’ and ‘stick to the ball’ but look at this season, check out the stats, drop a couple tunes and the footie’s on track.”
He registered nine goals and six assists as the club picked up a record 54 points, but Marco Silva’s side still finished outside the top 10 and he believes a tight-knit group who socialise regularly off the pitch are capable of more. “We were so close to achieving a European spot so it’s another ambition that we want to fulfil,” he says.
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As for his own ambitions, Iwobi has surpassed Mikel John Obi’s record for Premier League appearances by a Nigerian and is hoping to emulate his famous uncle by winning the Afcon, even if the new mid-December start for this year’s tournament in Morocco may disrupt things at home. “It’s not nice for us [to have to choose],” he says. “But with all due respect to Fulham I would like to go to the Afcon.”
In another of his songs from 2024, What’s Luv?, Iwobi references the number of properties he owns as 27, although he says “the portfolio has gone up” thanks to advice from Okocha when he broke into Arsenal’s first team as a teenager. “He showed my dad the blueprint and ever since I signed my first professional contract, almost all my investments go into properties, and my dad manages that for me,” he says.
“Obviously, football is a short career. I wouldn’t want anyone going bankrupt easily or immediately after football. I’m just grateful that I had my parents and my uncle to guide me and tell me what’s best for my future as well as the life I’m living currently.”
With his 30th birthday coming in May, Iwobi knows time is of the essence. He remembers what it was like to be the next emerging star at Arsenal’s academy with a famous relative and has no regrets about the way things have turned out.
“I’m so blessed and I’m so happy to be in the position I am today,” he says. “I’m obviously grateful to Arsenal because they always produce youngsters. I saw Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri during the off-season and you wouldn’t think that they’re 18 – they’re both very mature and carry themselves really well.
“No matter what age you are, I feel like you have to give 100%. But yeah, I am kicking on. I’m going to be 30 next season. So I’m no longer a young kid but hopefully next season I’ll make another big statement.”
