Hector Bellerin explains why he left Barcelona for Arsenal

Arsene Wenger, during his time at Arsenal unearthed many young talents and trained them to reach a certain level of greatness.

Though he could never do exactly the same with Hector Bellerin, the Spaniard will always be one of the young talents spotted by Wenger during the ending stages of his career. Bellerin, 23, was a part of FC Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy and was groomed over there since a very young age. However, at the age of 16, he made a bold decision to move out of his country in order to sign up and play for Arsenal. The North London club had shown enough interest to lure the lad to England.

Moreover, at that time, it was very rare from a youngster’s perspective to let go off their home country, especially, one of the most acknowledged academies in European football. So what prompted Hector to make such a decision? While talking to Wealthsimple’s Money Diaries, he revealed a decent part of the story. Bellerin said that though he was 16, there were no concrete assurances from Barcelona, and he felt that the time was ticking fast. At that age, footballers around the world could sign professional contracts.

 However, Barcelona had no plan structured for Bellerin regarding his pathway to the first-team and it certainly left him pondering over the decision of moving out in search of better, more realistic challenges. At the same time, Arsenal displayed their interest in him and Hector went to London to look at the facilities, the training, the place and the manager in general.

After being impressed by all of this, the lad took a final call and left La Masia to complete his further football education in England.

Now, he is an integral member of Arsenal’s squad and has garnered a whole lot of experience over the past couple of years. Hector also spoke about his financial management in general, his preference towards fashion and other stuff in this interview.

 However, the part where he talked about leaving La Masia to join Arsenal is something that garnered the most attention, and rightfully so.