Young star Reiss Nelson reveals how he left Tottenham to fulfil dream of playing for Arsenal

Reiss Nelson has revealed he could have been a Tottenham player before Arsenal offered him a chance in their youth setup.

The 17-year-old winger is one of the most highly-rated youngsters in the Arsenal setup and has established himself in Arsene Wenger’s first-team setup over recent months.

Nelson has made five competitive appearances in the Europa League and EFL Cup this season, impressing in an unfamiliar right wing-back role and demonstrating defensive discipline to go alongside his prodigious attacking talent.

It could have been Mauricio Pochettino, not Arsene Wenger, benefiting from Nelson’s rise to promise, though having grown up an Arsenal fan it was not a decision the young winger had to spend long considering.

“I was nine years old, I used to play for a team in Catford,” Nelson told the Arsenal Weekly Podcast. “I would get up every morning with my brother, get on the train and travel to Catford three times a week.

“I was there for about two months playing for a team called Moonshot FC. I got scouted for Tottenham and was there for three to four weeks before a phone call from Arsenal came. The first session they wanted to sign me so, happy days, I didn’t look back.

“I’m an Arsenal fan, everyone in my family is Arsenal, so it wasn’t a hard decision.”

Standard Sport revealed in August that Nelson was viewed by the Arsenal hierarchy as a replacement for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after his £40million move and the youngster has seized his opportunity.

Nelson now regularly trains with Wenger’s first team rather than Steve Gatting’s Under-23s and he paid tribute to the senior players who are helping him settle in.

“It was different coming from Hale End to London Colney,” he added. “The coaching is so much different and the environment – you’ve got loads of first team players and world-class players there.

“Alex Iwobi has really helped me. He’s always making jokes and seeing I’m okay.

“[Alexandre] Lacazette as well is a nice guy. [Mesut] Ozil, Hector [Bellerin] as well – those are the boys that have taken me in as a person and a footballer as well.”