Online Reporter
LONDON. – Alex Iwobi was held by his uncle’s team-mate and Ballon d’Or king Ronaldinho as a child.
Now he is hoping to hold aloft a major trophy for his country − and level up his family bragging rights.
Brazil icon Ronaldinho won the Copa America in 1999 and then played a pivotal role in the Selecao’s 2002 World Cup triumph.
That success came at the end of the 2001-02 season, his first with Paris Saint-Germain.
Also in the PSG squad that year were Mikel Arteta, Mauricio Pochettino, Nicolas Anelka, Gabriel Heinze and Jay-Jay Okocha, Iwobi’s maternal uncle.
Ronaldinho and Okocha only had one season together in France as the latter joined Bolton in 2002.
But as Iwobi − born in May 1996 − has only just found out, he spent time as a youngster hanging out with one of football’s great entertainers.
The Fulham winger, 29, revealed to SunSport: “What was mad was that I was in Barcelona and I saw Ronaldinho.
“I said to my mum, ‘I see Ronaldinho.’
“And she was like, ‘You know that he held you as a baby when he played for PSG with your uncle?’
“She even showed me a picture.”
Okocha earned Premier League cult hero status with four years at Bolton, with Iwobi able to watch and take inspiration to one day follow in his footsteps.
The pair are very close and in regular contact − but the uncle tends to avoid giving his nephew advice on his football.
But Iwobi may well turn to Okocha ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations as he desperately tries to become the second member of the family to lift the trophy for Nigeria.
Okocha’s side came from behind against Zambia in the 1994 to win the second of the Super Eagles’ three AFCON crowns.
Iwobi and Co suffered heartache last year, beating hosts Ivory Coast in the group stages before losing to the same opponents in the final.
Now the focus is on going one step further on January 18 in Rabat, Morocco. − The Sun
