Eight years on from his “whole world crashing down” when he was released by Arsenal as an 18-year-old, Nathan Tella will return to his boyhood club for a pre-season friendly on Wednesday as a league champion.
Tella scored five goals in 25 Bundesliga appearances last season as Bayer Leverkusen shocked the footballing world by going unbeaten to claim their first ever league title.
His route back to the top has been complicated by a serious knee injury and unsuccessful trials at Reading and Norwich, before finding a home at Southampton and playing in the Premier League.
“I think obviously at Southampton, I hadn’t really played much in the Premier League and for me that was a nice feeling to play at the Emirates in front of the Southampton fans and obviously the Arsenal fans and, more importantly, my family, because they’ve been with me the whole journey,” said Tella.
“But I think now, especially going back to the Emirates as a champion, as an invincible as well, it’s a great feeling, and it’s an amazing feeling.”
It will be a reflective occasion however for Tella – whose £25m move to Leverkusen from Southampton last summer raised some eyebrows – because of the impact his exit from Arsenal had on him as a young player.
“The day that happened, when I got released, my whole world just came crashing down,” he added.
“That was probably the first time in my life I’d ever been rejected from something in a sense.
“I’d worked so hard to get to the level I am and technically it’s the last step before you think of yourself as a professional footballer for Arsenal. I might say I was this close to doing it, or this close to doing it. I was one step away from ultimately fulfilling my dream for the club I support.”
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