BEVERLY HILLS, May 15, (THEWILL) – Former Nigerian international, Emma Okocha, has pointed out that it is unfair to compare Jay-Jay Okocha with Alex Iwobi as doing so will put Iwobi under unnecessary pressure.
Emma, who is Jay-Jay’s older brother and Iwobi’s uncle, made this known in an Instagram live chat with the Super Eagles media team stressing that there is still time for Iwobi to grow and develop.
He said: “Alex getting to this point is not a surprise and I know he’ll do better. He broke into that level where people started asking questions, comparing him to Jay-Jay because of the relationship. But they forget that he’s just another Nigerian like every other guy, playing for Nigeria, playing for Arsenal.
“Playing for Arsenal built him up, people still appreciate that. They were about 24 when they were picked up at seven or eight.. He played for England youth, captained Arsenal’s U19s and U23s. A lot of people went through that and couldn’t play for the first team.
“He broke into the first team, stayed for a while, and had this big transfer, a massive transfer for me because the move to Everton made him more responsible for himself.
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“He moved away from the family to another city so that’s a bigger challenge and he’s taking it well.
Compare Jay-Jay with the likes of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Messi (not Iwobi). In this era don’t compare anybody with Messi that would be unfair. That would put the young man under unnecessary pressure.
“Alex is such a wonderful boy, very humble, takes corrections, he wants to learn, he wants to improve, he works very hard and he lives a decent professional life.”
THEWILL reports that Alex Iwobi has been capped 40 times for the Super Eagles and has scored seven goals.
