Everton of England new arrival, Alex Iwobi may end up starting on the bench in The Toffees’ second encounter in the English Premier League season this weekend, as he only returned to training with the squad on Monday, and is said to be way behind physically, megasportsarena.com can report.
This is the verdict of Everton’s coach, Marco Silva, who noted that Iwobi is yet to fully recover from his exertions at the Africa Cup of Nations, but promised that he will on Friday take a befitting decision over whether the midfielder will get his Toffees debut against Watford on Saturday.
Silva admitted he has doubts over Iwobi’s fitness level to do battle with The Hornets, as the new signing was not involved in his former club, Arsenal’s pre-season activities due to commitments with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Toffees paid £35m to snatch Iwobi over to Goodison Park, making him the most expensive player of Nigerian descent in history as well as the costliest player signed by Everton in this summer transfer window – ahead of Moise Kean, Andre Gomes and Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
The 23-year-old Iwobi, inked a five-year contract, tying him to Everton until at least the end of the 2023-2024 season, said he is excited about the new challenge facing him at Goodison Park.
Although Iwobi commenced training on Monday at USM Finch Farm, it is left to be seen if he will see action on Saturday with Everton, who played out a goalless draw with Crystal Palace in their Premier League opener.
Silva told Liverpool Echo: ”He was on holiday after the Africa Cup. He starts on Monday and let’s see how he reacts but there is a big gap between him and his team-mates, the physical condition will be a big gap, but let’s see.
“Normally my decisions are coming from the training sessions and let’s see how he will play, how he will do in the training sessions and after that I will take my decision on Friday.”
