My failure at Arsenal made me a better player – One Cap Super Eagles Winger opens up

Arsenal will face German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow in their first home pre-season game at the Emirates following their return from a training tour of the United States, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

The game will mark the homecoming of Nigerian international winger Nathan Tella, who has earned one cap and is in Bayer Leverkusen’s squad for the crucial pre-season game. The 24-year-old began his career at Arsenal.

Tella was released at the age of 17 after the club decided not to offer him a new contract, moving to Southampton from where he had the breakthrough that earned him a move to the German side last summer.

He won the double with the team last season and, reflecting on his career since being let go by Arsenal, Tella, who was teammates with the likes of Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson, who are all in the Arsenal first team, opened up about how he turned disappointment into his fuel for a breakthrough.

“It was a very difficult time for me because, at 17, Arsenal was all I knew. I had been at the club since I was seven and all my friends were there too, we had grown up together and we all shared the dream of playing for Arsenal one day. But when my time at Arsenal came to an end, I knew I had to step up and make a name for myself somewhere else,” he told Arsenal’s official website.

“I told my family that I want to prove people wrong and I don’t want it to be a case of ‘oh, he didn’t make it at Arsenal so he’s not going to have a career’. I always said and believed that I could be a professional footballer. I wanted to play in the Premier League and I wanted to play against the best teams in the world. I did some trials and thankfully Southampton gave me the opportunity I needed but that didn’t make me relax. It made me want to work harder than ever before.

“You can’t let a ‘negative’ moment like that shape you or determine what your career will be like. Use it as fuel to prove others wrong and do what’s best for you. Don’t take it as you’re not good enough, try to reframe it and tell yourself that maybe it’s not the right time for you. Stay positive and tell yourself that it can be a blessing in disguise and a challenge to become the best version of yourself.”

“I could have let that moment get me down, but now I’m back at the Emirates Stadium as a German champion. Playing on this pitch was always my childhood dream. It’s crazy to think about it, really. Whatever happens in my career, I’ll always remember it,” he concluded.