Alex Iwobi: Music-maker, Snapchat joker and a Premier League performer from Arsenal to Fulham

What you see is what you get with Alex Iwobi. Whether it’s his flair in matches or the laughs generated by his Snapchat stories, the Fulham and Nigeria midfielder always comes across as genuine.

That is why Iwobi lying back on his sofa for most of this interview is no issue.

He’s relaxed, happy to amble down memory lane and discuss more recent ventures as if he were catching up with a friend. And there is a lot to catch up on. The 29-year-old has made public his passion for music, beaten a childhood friend in the “Snapchat derby”, and tried to impart the wisdom of Premier League greats Arsene Wenger and Frank Lampard onto the next generation.

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Project 17, a passion project he set up in 2021, has helped improve that connection with the next wave of talent growing up in London. This is the fourth summer it has hosted football tournaments, The P17 Cup, with the joint purpose of inspiring young players and raising awareness for a specific cause. This year, Project 17 focused on educating people about the effects of sickle cell disease and the importance of Black people making blood donations.

“We’re working with a life-saving charity called ACLT (African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust) to help raise awareness for people who have sickle cell,” Iwobi tells The Athletic. “One of my team has someone close to home who may be affected by it, so we decided to go along with his idea and push through. Not just for him but to raise awareness for other people going through this, to help reduce it and find treatments for them.”

People with sickle cell disease produce misshapen red blood cells that can block blood flow to the rest of the body. Many studies, including one published in America’s National Library of Medicine, have found that Black people are at a much higher risk of being affected by sickle cell disease.

Players and spectators at the P17 Cup had the opportunity to sign up to make donations on a day when Iwobi’s energy shone through.

He walked the two teams who reached the under-12 final onto the pitch and presented the winners with the trophy as his father, Chuka, took the mic — something Alex often does himself.

Iwobi at this year’s P17 Cup (Max Cheshire)

Going by the stage name 17, his squad number at Arsenal, Everton and Fulham, Iwobi dropped his first song publicly last summer.

Don’t Shoot featured fellow Arsenal academy graduate and east Londoner Chuba Akpom, but music has been an integral part of Iwobi’s life since he was a teenager.

“I’ve been doing music since secondary school,” Iwobi says. “I made a song when I was 13 with a guy on my road. I have a studio at my house, so whenever I have free time, I go to my studio and just lay off what’s on my mind. But in the past two years, my boy said, ‘Why don’t you release it?’, and I thought, ‘Why not?’.”

Part of the initial hesitation around releasing his music was about timing. The midfielder did not want to give the appearance of being distracted from football, particularly when he was fighting relegation with Everton.

He believes his consistently excellent displays at Fulham this season contributed to the music being received positively, even if that has led to some unexpected encounters.

“I went to Turks and Caicos with my boys and one random kid started singing one of my songs,” he says. “I was like, ‘Wow, I’m doing all right with music’. I mentioned Declan Rice in a song and he (Rice) loves it. He sent me videos of him listening to the song on holiday.”

Iwobi has been a consistent performer at Fulham (Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

In 2023, a masked rapper called Dide went viral for claiming to be a Premier League footballer. Asked why, in contrast, he was happy to take ownership of his music, Iwobi says: “A few footballers had already done it — Memphis Depay and Rafael Leao, for example. I didn’t want to hide my identity. If I’m going to do something, I want people to know it’s me.”

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Iwobi has happily showcased his personality in podcasts and he is becoming more noticed for his Snapchat profile, too. For over a decade, Iwobi has been posting public photos on the social media platform when going out with friends or playing football at his local Goals, centres where you can rent pitches to play five-a-side.

Last season, he took to posting funny behind-the-scenes moments in the Fulham dressing room. Nottingham Forest’s Ola Aina did similar, providing a glimpse of the vibes whether after big wins or at breakfast.

“Then it became a Snapchat derby,” Iwobi says, as both his and Aina’s followers eagerly anticipated the scenes after their teams met. “Especially because me and Ola grew up together. We went to the same school and grew up on the same road.

“I’m just happy we beat Forest home and away. Ola messaged me saying, ‘Alex, don’t even entertain or mention my name’. I was like, ‘Bro, don’t worry, I’ll spare you, but I’ll let you know we won’.”

Compared to the NBA or NFL, it is rare to see a footballer as open and personable as Iwobi. Part of that may be down to the culture of football being more serious, but Iwobi’s need to express himself has been welcomed by the managers who have understood him best.

“Normally, that’s when I’m playing my best football,” he says. “Especially last season. Marco Silva told me: ‘Just go and express yourself. You seem like a cool guy off the pitch. When you’re happy, it helps with your football. Just keep doing that’.”

Lampard, the former Chelsea midfielder and Everton manager, recognised the importance of giving Iwobi that freedom on the pitch, too.

In January 2022, Rafa Benitez had just been sacked and Iwobi returned to Merseyside after receiving a red card in Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) round-of-16 defeat against Tunisia. He was informed that Lampard would be taking charge, but that the club would like him to go out on loan. Having broken straight through to Arsenal’s first team from the academy, loans had never been part of Iwobi’s agenda.

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“I had nothing to lose,” he recalls. “Lampard’s been appointed and I’ve come in to train. I’ve always been a good trainer, but in training, I like to drift (on the pitch). Especially when you’re not on the starting team, you can express yourself a bit more.

“Then Joe Edwards, one of his coaching staff, said: ‘Alex, why don’t you play like this in matches?’. I said: ‘Normally, recent managers have just wanted me to set the ball or make runs in behind as a winger because they just think I’m fast.’

“They said, ‘We’re going to experiment and put you in midfield. Have you played there before?’. I told them that’s where I used to play in the academy, as a No 8 and a No 10. We played against West Ham and apart from one mistake, I played really well in that game and they continued with it.”

Iwobi thrived under Lampard at Everton (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Lampard’s instructions were to “play your game, your ability is different to what I had”. Previous coaches had used Iwobi as a touchline winger, and sometimes as a wing-back, but Iwobi was back to linking play like he once had at Arsenal.

He has continued to prosper since moving to Fulham, where he has been prized for his versatility and quality on the ball.

The 2024-25 season was Iwobi’s most productive Premier League campaign in front of goal as he scored nine and assisted six (15 goal contributions). His previous best returns came in his final seasons at Arsenal and Everton, registering nine goal contributions in each.

Fulham have also provided a nice return to Iwobi’s Arsenal roots, with fellow academy graduates Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson joining the club last season. Nelson has returned to Arsenal after his loan spell ended, but Smith Rowe kept his former team-mate guessing on whether he would be making a transfer to south-west London.

“I heard so many rumours,” Iwobi says. “I asked him: ‘Yo, are you joining Fulham?’, and he goes, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know’. When he finally came, I was like: ‘My guy is here’. I assisted his first professional goal for Arsenal, so I’ve seen his ability. I know how good Emile is. He’s such a great player. He has been unfortunate that his injuries have set him back. But once Emile is fit, he’s one of the best young talents in England.”

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In April, Iwobi and Smith Rowe returned to the Emirates for a match steeped in Hale End subplots, with Bukayo Saka making his return from a three-month hamstring injury. Saka entered the pitch as Smith Rowe departed, with both afforded standing ovations as they high-fived each other.

It was a special moment, even before Saka scored Arsenal’s crucial second goal. Iwobi, who replaced Smith Rowe, couldn’t help but be caught up even if he was trying to earn Fulham points.

“Bukayo jogged past Calvin Bassey and me to warm up and the whole crowd cheered,” he says. “I joined in on the sly because it was nice for him to be back. Bukayo jumped on the pitch and scored. We were thinking, ‘Damn’. He even tried to nutmeg me in the game. I was like, ‘Bro, you can’t be doing that to me’.”

Iwobi addresses the competitors at this year’s P17 Cup (Max Cheshire)

Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, Arsenal’s next generation of academy stars, started that match. Iwobi’s father often speaks to Lewis-Skelly’s mother, Marcia, to offer his experience on how to prepare for the future. When the Fulham midfielder crossed paths with Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri, his advice to the teenagers was to “keep doing you, there’s a reason you’re playing so early, just keep on enjoying your football”.

The conversation drew parallels to those he had with Wenger a decade ago. The chats tended to come after training sessions and, rather than being overloaded with information, Iwobi remembers the value of the Frenchman’s wisdom.

“He’d advise me on how I should put my body in certain positions to receive the ball or how I should take my touch on my left or my right foot,” he says.

“Before my first Champions League start — against Barcelona at Camp Nou — I didn’t think I would be in the line-up. He just said to me: ‘Be ready. When the time comes, play the way you’ve been training. Get on the ball, be brave, be courageous and express yourself’.”

That was 10 seasons ago but that desire from coaches for Iwobi to continue expressing himself has been consistent.

A 20-year-old Iwobi battles with Sunderland’s Yann M’Vila in 2016 (Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

It has helped him forge one of the most impressive careers of any Arsenal academy graduate to have left the club in recent history. Iwobi has 291 Premier League appearances, putting him on track to surpass Shola Ameobi’s record for the most Premier League appearances by a Nigeria player (298) early next season.

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His aims for the upcoming campaign are quite simple. After helping Fulham achieve their best top-flight points tally in 2024-25 (54), he is hoping to take them to European qualification. December also sees the return of AFCON and, after reaching the final in 2023, he wants to lift the trophy with Nigeria.

As far as off-pitch ventures go, Iwobi hasn’t thought too deeply about what is next.

He wants to work with more big music artists, but insists he’s living in the moment. “There will be more things coming,” he adds, “but it’ll be a surprise to me and to everyone else.”

(Top photo: Max Cheshire)

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