Hit or miss? Two-month assessment on Everton deadline day signing Alex Iwobi

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Everton spent the summer embarking on another recruitment drive with the intention of breaking into the top six, but it is yet to click.

Alex Iwobi was the last of those new faces to come through the door at Goodison Park and with the second international break of the campaign now upon us, it’s worth assessing the starts made by the Toffees new-boys, and he’s the first under the spotlight.

What’s the background?

Having come through the ranks at Arsenal, Iwobi divided opinion at the Emirates Stadium. Many supporters found him frustrating and it is easy to bemoan the fact he was kept on at the club while Serge Gnabry was let go on the cheap.

BBC report the deal which took him to Goodison could be worth as much as £34 million, as Marco Silva turned to him after failing to land Wilfried Zaha.

That said, he often looked more comfortable in a number ten role at Arsenal, whereas Zaha is an out-and-out winger so Iwobi isn’t a natural second choice signing.

How has he looked?

The £50,000-a-week (Spotrac) star made a good first impression, scoring on his first twos start for the club; a 4-2 EFL Cup victory at Lincoln and a 3-2 home win over Wolves.

Since then, the Toffees have lost all four league matches, with Iwobi starting three of them and coming off the bench in the other.

He has come into an attacking unit which is not functioning as it should, but there is still a debate to be had over his best position.

Could he come into the number ten role instead of Gylfi Sigurdsson? It might add some more urgency to Everton’s midfield.

The Verdict

Simply put, Iwobi’s early output has not been good enough for a creative player, but some of his more settled and established new team-mates have not helped with that either.

With regular football and a manager who believes in him, he should be a hit. He’s a more intelligent player than many Arsenal fans believed him to be and he took a lot of unnecessary flack there.

But it’s clear he needs to do more. Of course there are question marks over who his manager will be in the coming months, but Iwobi has the ability to help keep the man who signed him in a job, with Silva calling him ‘high quality’ earlier this term (Everton TV).