Super Eagles and Fulham midfielder, Alex Chuka Iwobi, has revealed that the cyberbullying he faced after Nigeria lost the AFCON 2023 final to Ivory Coast has left no scars on him, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 27-year-old played in all of Nigeria's seven games at the AFCON tournament in Ivory Coast, but didn't have the best of the games in the final, sparking angry reactions from fans on social media, with Nottingham Forest's Ola Aina suffering the same fate.
The former Arsenal man revealed on his newly launched Project 17 podcast that he didn't see any of the criticisms. If they were thrown at him, it didn't matter, because he simply followed the coach's instructions.
“The whole competition I didn't see it. I remember in a press conference they said, ‘Where is the creativity? ‘ and I had to address the role I was given and I said I am the kind of guy who will listen to my coach and try to do the job I'm told to do.”
After the loss to Ivory Coast, Iwobi was instead reading messages of support from friends and family rather than scrolling through any abuse on his social media accounts.
“The game is done now, obviously I'm disappointed I'm on my phone but I don't check Twitter. I'm on Snapchat and WhatsApp with all my people telling me I've done my nation proud.”
The former Everton midfielder revealed that it was Napoli's talismanic striker, Victor Osimhen that called his attention to the online abuse he'd been getting, and reached out just to make sure Iwobi remained in a good head-space.
“At two o'clock there was a knock on the door, I was like, I don't want room service, but I looked through the keyhole and it is Victor Osimhen. I'm half-asleep with my hair everywhere but he said, I'm not going to lie to you, they've been talking about you a lot on social media and I want to make sure you're good. They're saying you're going to retire, you're depressed.”
Iwobi took down all but one of his posts on Instagram, just like he did after Nigeria got knocked out of the AFCON 2021 tournament in Cameroon so as to prevent the vile comments on his page.
“It is what it is, it is not the first time. The first AFCON where I got sent off it happened, at Arsenal it constantly happened, at Everton when I signed for two years it happened, that is football. I would rather be off social media, I don't want to see that and I don't care. They wanted to put out a statement saying cyberbullying is wrong and I said we are just going to create a bigger scene but they said we needed to stand as one. They were standing up for me but I said no because the world would think I was down, I'm calm, just listening to music.”
Iwobi returned to Fulham, and with the support of Marco Silva, has been on fire for the Cottagers, scoring a last minute winner at Old Trafford, alongside creating numerous chances, doing his talking on the pitch rather than letting the social media comments deter him.
“I'm really tired of socials, really and truly. I would rather just be real in real life. I have seen people come off socials, like Stormzy and Jay-Z don't have it and I feel they are living life peacefully. I don't want people to think I am affected because I'm not. We came to the conclusion I needed to jump back on socials and it was important for people to see how I felt, rather than a statement where I thank you for the support and say that cyberbullying is wrong,” the Arsenal Hale End Graduate concluded.
Iwobi, alongside Calvin Bassey are in Nigeria's camp, and could be called into action as the Super Eagles take on Ghana later today in Morocco.
N.B: We'd like to know your thoughts. Do you think the comments of fans on social media have ripple effects on player's performances? Let us know in the comments.
