Arsenal wonderkid Reiss Nelson has admitted he could have ended up as a Spurs player if Arsenal had not offered him a chance in their youth setup.

The 17-year-old has been tipped as one of the stars of the future and has already managed to stake a claim in Arsenal’s first-team picture this season, making five appearances in both the Europa League and League Cup so far.

The player is naturally a winger, but has been deployed mostly in a wing-back role, which although isn’t necessarily his favoured position, it is one that he has impressed in so far.

But Nelson has insisted things could have been very different for him, had he chosen to sign for Spurs when he was younger instead of his beloved Arsenal – who didn’t scout him until after their North London rivals.

“I was nine years old, I used to play for a team in Catford,” said Nelson on 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.

“It was different coming from Hale End to London Colney.

“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.”
[Quotes sourced via Evening Standard]

Nelson is being tipped for stardom at Arsenal, and has already been seen as a replacement for the departing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.