Reiss Nelson says he was initially signed by Tottenham, but made the move to Arsenal as soon as he found out the Gunners were interested.

Nelson initially played for a smaller youth club called Moonshot FC, but says before long he’d been scouted by Spurs, explaining (via Arsenal.com): “I got scouted for Tottenham, I was at Tottenham for three or four weeks I’d say, and then the phone call from Arsenal came in and I went to Arsenal’s training ground. 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.”

Reiss Nelson has since made huge strides through the Arsenal academy to go from the u18s to knocking on the door of the first-team in the last season or two.

He says that transition has been eased by a few of the current players in the senior squad: “Alex Iwobi has really helped me. He’s always making jokes, seeing if I’m okay. Lacazette as well is a nice guy. Özil, Hector as well, those are the boys that I think are great and have really taken me in as a person, and a footballer as well.”

Nelson is an example of a rare player in recent years who has started to make fairly regular appearances for the Arsenal first-team before he’s even turned 18 years old. Reiss doesn’t have his birthday until December, but he’s made four starts for the Gunners, and appeared in six matches total across three different competitions.

Most fans are expecting another start in mid-week against Red Star Belgrade, and it’s already reaching the point where it would be more of a surprise if the 17-year-old was left out.

If he continues that trend, it won’t be long before the Premier League substitute appearances come along, maybe before the end of this season.

The Gunners have won all six senior games that Reiss has been involved in, so it’s just about keeping the good results coming, that way it’ll be hard for Arsène to ignore him.