The former Arsenal winger has only played twice under the Italian due to a hamstring problem, but says his philosophy has a familiar feeling to it
Everton winger Alex Iwobi says he can see clear similarities between Toffees boss Carlo Ancelotti and former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Iwobi, 23, broke into the Gunners’ first team under Wenger in 2015, before leaving for Goodison Park in a £40 million ($49m) deal last summer.
He has hardly featured under Ancelotti so far, having suffered an injury in the 0-0 draw with Arsenal in December with the Italian watching from the stands before taking the reins from interim boss Duncan Ferguson.
“They are almost the same, thinking about it,” Iwobi told the Liverpool Echo of Wenger and Ancelotti.
“They are both very patient, they are not men of many words but when they do say something there is a lot of wisdom. They are almost the same.
“They both like to play football; it is almost like I am working with the same man.
“It’s not like I’m back at Arsenal with Arsene Wenger but it’s almost the same philosophy and I can buy into it easily and adapt to his plans straight away.”
After much fanfare around his arrival in the summer, Iwobi would have been hopeful of impressing his new manager against his former side as Arsenal travelled to Merseyside shortly before Christmas.
His game only lasted 11 minutes due to a hamstring injury, but he started and played more than an hour in Everton’s stunning 3-2 win at Watford last week.
“I’ve never been injured before and I’m thinking ‘why against Arsenal?’ and ‘why when there is a new manager watching?’” Iwobi added on his injury.
“’What have I done to deserve this luck?’. But I took it on the chin and luckily I have good team-mates, we have good staff, good family around me.
“So I was able to forget about it quick and focus on getting back as soon as possible. It was a minor setback.
“Because I’d never had an injury before, I didn’t know what to do.
“Even when I injured myself in the game, I tried to continue, but that is the worst thing I could’ve done.
“Everyone has had an injury in their time, so when I got back in they were all telling me what I should do, how I should cope with it, don’t stress on trying to come back too quickly. It did help me and luckily, I was able to recover quicker than usual.
“I was told six weeks but I came back after four.
“Touch wood, it doesn’t happen again. I felt a pop in my hamstring and I thought I could play on but I couldn’t so it was weird but hopefully it won’t happen again.”
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