Reiss Nelson has admitted Julian Nagelsmann dropped him from the Hoffenheim squad recently because he was late for training, but the pair made up after he apologised.
A couple of weeks ago, Nelson was completely absent from Hoffenheim’s squad to face Nurnberg. Whilst there were initially fears from Arsenal supporters that he might be injured, Julian Nagelsmann confirmed after the match that the exclusion was an ‘educational measure’.
The player himself explained what that meant after his recent appearance for the England u21s, saying (via Daily Mail): “I was late to training, I was 20 minutes late, and that’s something I need to learn from. You can make mistakes but it’s your job and you shouldn’t be late.
“I held my hand up and I said sorry to him and we both moved on as bigger men. He put me in the squad the next week because I’d been doing well.”
These are the sorts of lessons you learn as a youngster playing regularly for a side in Europe’s top five leagues. As the 19-year-old says, everyone makes mistakes, particularly at that age. The important thing is how you respond to them, and whether you learn from them to avoid the same thing happening again in the future.
In terms of his response, Nelson is doing well so far. His apology was clearly enough for Nagelsmann, as he returned to the pitch in the next game against Stuttgart. Plus, he’s not hiding away from what he did wrong, he’s admitting it publicly and blaming himself. Hopefully, this is the last we’ll hear of poor timekeeping from the Arsenal loanee.