Why Arsenal-loving NBA record breaker Joel Embiid didn’t pursue bid to be ‘better than Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo’ despite being a football ‘bully’ like Man City legend Yaya Toure

The 29-year-old Cameroonian recently posted 70 points for the Philadelphia 76ers in a meeting with the San Antonio Spurs, making franchise history in the process. As a Gunners supporter, any opportunity to get one over on Spurs of any kind is gratefully received. Things could have been very different, though, had he opted to grace the middle of a football field rather than the centre of the court.

Embiid, who stands at seven feet tall, has told the Men In Blazers podcast of why he choose to head down a different ball-playing path to the one that he initially fell in love with: “I always wanted to be a striker, but I was just way too big. I found myself in the middle because I just felt like, I like to control, make the passes and just control the whole game. Obviously being bigger than everybody else, I was more physical and people were actually scared of me because I would just make some move and act like I’m going to kick you in the foot, and everybody would be scared. I was kind of the bully, but like a Yaya Toure, physical presence, big, tall. But yeah, I enjoyed it. I wish I had more talent to be professional, but I guess I didn’t.”

He added on whether he could have been a footballing star: “At seven feet, I don’t think so. Even in goalkeepers, I don’t think I’d be good at seven feet. But, yeah, an alternate universe where Joel is better than Messi, Ronaldo? Yeah, for sure. I watch football because I love it and I grew up watching it and I grew up loving it, but I think I also love football because it’s a dream that I was never able to accomplish. I want to feel what it’s like. I want to be part of it.”

Embiid is watching on from afar as his beloved Arsenal chase down more major honours in 2023-24, with the pain of missing out on Premier League title glory last season still stinging. Embiid said of seeing north London heavyweights fall narrowly short in pursuit of domestic supremacy: “Over each game, you start saying like, ‘There’s actually a chance, they can actually win the league.’ But then again in the back of my mind, there’s been so much disappointment that I was always like, even me tweeting about the Gunners, I kind of stopped because I didn’t want to jinx it. They were on a roll for so long that I was like, ‘I’m not going to talk about it. I’m not even going to mention Arsenal because I don’t want to be the reason why they lose.’”

Arsenal sit third in the Premier League table as things stand, five points adrift of leaders Liverpool and level with reigning champions Manchester City. Mikel Arteta’s side, with Embiid tuning in from the United States, will be back in action on Sunday when playing host to table-topping Liverpool at the Emirates.