Being a celebrity - particularly an athlete - these days comes with a cost. Most celebrities understand that cost, which is at minimum a loss of privacy, and at most a life lived (by choice or otherwise) entirely in public, and adjust their lives accordingly.
But sometimes, lines get crossed and things get weird. Alex Iwobi had such an experience recently as he was going home from Arsenal’s match against Basel, when a “fan” followed him after Iwobi left the Emirates:
‘I remember the last home game we played. For 15 minutes there was one fan following me and I was getting a bit scared,’ he said. I was getting close to my destination. I was thinking, I’m going to have to do a detour before I get to my destination before he ends up finding where I’m going.’
I’ve never really been followed, but I’ve seen enough action movies to know that the creeping feeling of dread you get when you go from innocently heading home from your job to knowing you’re being followed but not knowing what was going on is not a great way to end your day.
Fortunately, this came to nothing as Alex made it home without incident, but that’s pretty freaky.