Alex Iwobi made his debut for Nigeria in 2015 and has since made over 70 appearances and scored 10 goals for the Super Eagles.
Fulham manager Marco Silva has downplayed discussions about Nigerian midfielder Alex Iwobi suffering from the effects of cyberbullying, reports Soccernet.ng Ta.
27-year-old Iwobi was criticized by many Nigerian fans on social media after Nigeria lost to Ivory Coast in the AFCON 2023 final, forcing the former Arsenal midfielder to archive all posts on Instagram I no longer get it.
The former Everton player did the same in 2021 after Nigeria were eliminated by Cameroon in the round of 16 of the AFCON 2021 tournament.
However, his club coach said the versatile midfielder showed no trace of the online abuse.
In his pre-match speech ahead of Fulham’s match against Aston Villa, the Portuguese tactician revealed that Iwobi is fully focused on his game.
“He’s very good mentally. Alex is a happy boy when he’s on the pitch doing what he loves and he always does it with a smile on his face. I know some of it, but I don’t know everything that people have said about it. There’s no reason for this, because if you lose a match, you lose a match, and if you win a match, you lose a match. Because of course we will win together. They showed a great performance up until the final,” said the 46-year-old in words published on the club’s official website.
The former Everton coach added that he spoke to the club’s two Nigerian players ahead of the weekend’s fixture and made it clear they were important to the team.
“In my opinion, this was completely unfair given the way he was criticized on social media. It’s even weirder when there’s no reason for it. “After that, I spoke to him. He and Calvin Bassey will be involved in the game,” the coach added.
Since joining the club last summer, Alex Iwobi has scored three goals in 18 games for the Cottage.
