Arsenal fans will be hoping that Reiss Nelson is part of Unai Emery’s plans for next season when he returns to the club in the summer.
Making his debut for the first team under Arsene Wenger, the talented youngster was sent out on loan to Bundesliga club Hoffenheim at the start of the season.
With good friend Jadon Sancho hitting the headlines in Germany for his displays for Borussia Dortmund, Nelson has done likewise during his time at the Rhein-Necker Arena.
Making an instant impact with a goal on his debut in the 2-1 defeat at Fortuna Dusseldorf, the 19-year-old has netted a further five times but has yet to find the net since November.
Looking set to be a big part of Arsenal’s plans going forward providing he keeps on progressing, the attacker could have quite easily slipped through the club’s grasp having spent time on trial with Spurs as a youngster.
“My brother-in-law was a Tottenham fan. He introduced me to football and brought me to Tottenham. At the time I just wanted to play football so I would go anywhere to play,” the England U21 international told the Daily Mail.
“I was there on trial for two weeks. I had a game, played well and then I got home that night and I had a lot of teams calling me. It was so late, and I had school the next morning, but at 12 o’clock Arsenal called and I went directly in the morning to the training ground.
“Arsenal was my dream club, so I would have been kicking myself if I turned that down. I had Thierry Henry’s name on the back of my shirts. Then he was the coach of our under-19 squad. His main thing was staying grounded.
“A lot of kids, when they get to 18 or 19, they start getting flashy and forgetting about the real basics of being a professional footballer. He has always said “Be on that and you’ll go to the top”.”
