The arrival of Justin Iwobi on loan from Halifax has caught the eye of many Blues fans in the past couple of weeks. So, we had a little chat with him to get to know our new arrival and to see what he can bring to The Northolme in his brief spell at the club.
Justin started off by explaining his football journey, " I started off when I was about 7, I played grass roots football and played with my friends from school, I loved it and had loads of fun. Then I had a few trials and ended up at Bury FC, I spent a good four years there but they ended up getting liquidated so I had to find a new club. This led to me going to Stoke City at the start of U15's, I did my scholarship there. However, I had a big injury throughout my scholarship so I didn't really get to play a lot of football, it led to me getting side lined for a long time which was tough mentally but I did well to get through it and coming out better. After that, I didn't get offered a pro contract at Stoke, so I went on more trials and then I ended up at Halifax, love it there, love the people there, love training there."
"Now I'm 19 years old and I'm looking at breaking into the first team at Halifax. I tool the opportunity to go on loan to Gainsborough, I think its a great club with lots of experienced players and I hope I can get a lot of game time with them and get a lot of goals and improve as a striker whilst helping the club get into a better position in the table".
Russ Wilcox explains that 'Justin is going to come in and add competition for places' which just shows how highly he is rated by the Trinity boss and how much of a difference his presence will make on the team.
When asking the teenager for his footballing idol, he mentioned that he is a 'huge fan' of Cristiano Ronaldo and he has always looked up to him because he 'loves the way he scores goals'. I think its fair to say that the youngster definitely has an eye for goal which will bring so many positives to the side.
The striker explained his time at Stoke in more detail, including the lessons he learnt on the way,
"Coming through Stoke's academy was amazing, I met really good coaches, teammates, I learnt loads there and it helped me develop on the pitch as a player and off the pitch as a person, I really enjoyed it. They helped me get through my injury, they were there the whole time, full thanks to them, I wouldn't be where I am today, if it wasn't for them. I appreciate Stoke City so much and the good experience with them."
When being asked about the teams good form and whether it puts pressure on the talented forward, he replied, " I don't think it puts any pressure on me, I'm just think of how I can do better and how I can improve and I think everything will come into place when I improve, coming here on loan will really help".the fact that the youngster doesn’t feel pressured when coming g into such an un form side, shows the maturity and experience that the lad already has, even at 19 years old.
As a young player, the main thing is development, so to see Justin focusing so much on this shows that the Blues have a strong talent on their hands.
Having such an eye for goal, Iwobi is just wanting to get into the games now, “I’m really excited to just get on with the club and kick on, start playing games, hopefully scoring goals and I’m just waiting for the next game, itching to get on and score”, the Stoke City scholar is ready to make a great impression on the fans.
When asked what his loan could help with, Justin responded with some personal qualities that he thinks will improve over the next month, “I think I can really add that match sharpness to my game, I can be sharper, fitter and I can have more of that eye for goal which comes from playing games rather than just training. I’m here, I’m happy to learn and ready to win games with the lads”.
Advice is an important part of football, it helps you develop so much by learning new ways, it’s also a very important quality of the pitch as well, I wanted to know what the best advice the new arrival had received,
“The best advice I would say I’ve been given would be from my mum and my dad, which would be to always keep going even when it gets bad, God always has something in store for you and that everything always happens for a reason”
Following from the best advice given to him, I wanted to know what his advice would be to young players trying to achieve their own dreams in football,
“I would tell them to keep going even when they have setbacks, never stop, stay resilient and always stay self disciplined because discipline is important to get to where you want to get to”.
Preparation for a game is always different for every player, Justin let us know his pre-match routine, “I wouldn’t really say u have an actual routine, I eat my pre-match food which could be pasta or rice and chicken and I just take it as it goes, I wouldn’t really say I do actually have a routine though”.
Now, after two substitute appearances, Iwobi has impressed for the minutes that he has been on, but hasn’t been lucky enough to score a goal in the few minutes that he has played. He will be looking on to the weekend as Trinity face FC United of Manchester at the Kal Group Stadium in the PitchingIn Northern Premier League.
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