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.”
