{"id":70389,"date":"2016-10-27T11:12:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T08:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.capitalfm.co.ke\/sports\/?p=70389"},"modified":"2016-10-27T11:12:01","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T08:12:01","slug":"iwobi-nearly-signed-west-ham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.capitalfm.co.ke\/sports\/2016\/10\/27\/iwobi-nearly-signed-west-ham\/","title":{"rendered":"Iwobi: I nearly signed for West Ham"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hammer<\/a>

Hammer time: Iwobi has revealed he could’ve joined West Ham. PHOTO\/MIRROR<\/p><\/div>\n

Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi nearly joined Premier League rivals West Ham as a youth, the Nigerian international has revealed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 20-year-old nephew of former Super Eagles star Jay-Jay Okocha broke into Arsenal’s first team last season and has become a valued member of the squad so far this term.<\/p>\n

Although Iwobi has been on the books of Arsenal since he was nine years old, during his primary school days he did have the opportunity to sign for the Irons.<\/p>\n

“There were a lot of good players at my school, like my Arsenal team-mate Chuba Akpom,” Iwobi told Match of the Day magazine.<\/p>\n

“Everyone loved football at my first primary school.<\/p>\n

“[But I was scouted] playing for my local Sunday league team, Rippleway.<\/p>\n

“My dad heard that a scout was there to watch me and Chuba – we were just playing and didn’t think anything of it.<\/p>\n

“Arsenal and West Ham were interested in me and Chuba [Akpom], so we were training with both clubs for three years, because we were scouted at six and you can’t sign until you \u2019re nine.<\/p>\n

“I decided to sign for Arsenal because I supported them back then and I always saw them as the bigger club \u2013 no disrespect to West Ham.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi nearly joined Premier League rivals West Ham as a youth, the Nigerian international has revealed. The 20-year-old nephew of former Super Eagles star Jay-Jay Okocha broke into Arsenal’s first team last season and has become a valued member of the squad so far this term. Although Iwobi has been on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17,5,11,85,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-headlines","category-home","category-sports","category-top-stories","category-international"],"yoast_head":"\nIwobi: I nearly signed for West Ham - Capital Sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi nearly joined Premier League rivals West Ham as a youth, the Nigerian international has revealed. 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