London (CNN) — Alex Iwobi vividly remembers the day: Friday, August 8, 2019.

The transformative moment? A late, unexpected move for the then 23-year-old on transfer deadline day from his boyhood club of Arsenal to Premier League side Everton.

The day, that as he says, he “became a man.”

“It happened so fast,” Iwobi tells CNN Sports . “It was a decision that was almost instant.”

No longer a “London boy,” now he was to be molded by the culture, language and soccer of northern England.

It was time to embrace the unknown.

“I’m leaving home. I’m literally by myself a lot more. It’s almost like I’m moving to another country,” he recounts.

“Learning the accents, the demeanor and the football style is very, very different so I had to embrace that.

“It was a lot, but I’m grateful for Eve

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