Ever wanted to know how Arsenal would tell you that your dream was about to come true and you were now a member of the first team?

Perhaps you’ve imagined the scenario, thinking of Arsene Wenger calling you into his office, or Steve Bould giving you a playful punch on the arm as he delivered the news.

Well, you’d be wrong. And terribly unimaginative.

Apparently they send Vic Akers, the kit man.

Serge Gnabry, the forgotten man of the past 12 months, has been speaking to Arsenal.com and revealed just exactly how he found out he’d been promoted.

He said

“Vic [Akers] the kit man came over to me while I was in the gym and told me to go with him.

“I walked alongside him not knowing anything that’s going on and he surprised me by taking me into the first-team changing room and showed me the locker.

“He said, ‘that’s your place now’. I was kind of surprised, shocked and I didn’t think about it on the morning I came in, it was just another day focusing on training. It’s been really exciting and I’m happy to be in the first-team dressing room now.”

Out for almost a year with a knee problem, the German is fit and ready to fight for his place again.

He faces stiff competition, for sure, but there’s no doubting the fact that he has the ability to push on and really challenge for a spot in the side.

He continued

“[Hector, Chuba and I] have come a long way. We started here when we were 16 – that was three years ago and I still remember the time when I walked into the other side of the building.

“It’s all you’ve been dreaming about, you’re just hoping for it to come one day and now it’s finally arrived, for me it’s excitement. Now you’ve just got to go out and show what you can do.

“We’ve all seen that Hector’s shown what he’s capable of at first-team level whereas a couple of months ago nobody would have spoken about him. I’m really happy for him, he’s one of my closest friends and so is Chuba, so I’m very happy that the three of us have made that step together.”