Alex Iwobi Breaks Mikel Obi’s Premier League Record

Super Eagles midfielder, Alex Iwobi, is now the Nigerian player who has played the highest number of minutes in the history of the English Premier League.

Alex Iwobi started his football journey at Arsenal youth system and was promoted to the club’s under-18 team on July 1, 2012.

After spending a year in Arsenal’s under-21 team, the club’s former coach, Arsene Wenger, decided to promote Iwobi to the club’s senior team on July 1, 2015.

Alex Iwobi stayed at Arsenal’s senior team from 2015 to 2019, during which he played 149 times for the club in all competitions, scoring 15 goals and providing 25 assists.

The 27-year-old attacking midfielder moved to Everton on August 8, 2019, for a transfer fee worth €30.40 million. He played 140 times in all competitions before he left for Fulham on September 1, 2023.

In the three aforementioned clubs, Alex Iwobi has played a total of 16,289 minutes of Premier League football. He achieved this record after playing for 90 minutes in Fulham’s 1-0 home defeat against Newcastle United on Saturday, April 6.

This means that Iwobi has broken the record of former Super Eagles of Nigeria midfielder, Mikel Obi, who played 16,218 minutes of Premier League football while at Chelsea.

Recall that Mikel Obi played for Chelsea for 11 years, winning two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, and a Champions League title.