Former Arsenal youngster Carlos Vela has admitted he was ‘not ready’ to join the club when he arrived as a 16-year-old.
Vela signed for the Gunners in a £2.7m deal from Deportivo Guadalajara in 2006 and spent six years at the Emirates.
His time in London was not a happy one, though, as despite being ranked as one of Arsenal’s most exciting youth prospects he failed to nail down a starting role under Arsene Wenger.
He eventually left to join Real Sociedad in a £12.6m deal in 2012 after spending several years out on loan.
Since his departure, he’s finally gone someway to realising his potential, managing 73 goals and 44 assists in 250 games for La Real before joining Los Angeles FC, who he’s managed 57 goals and 23 assists for in 71 games.
Those numbers make many question how and why he struggled at Arsenal, but Vela says it was a case of too much, too soon.
“Before the 2005 World Cup, I was just a young man following his dreams trying to reach the First Division in Mexico and do something good in soccer,” he told the Inside LAFC podcast, relayed by Medio Tempo.
“But after that, I went to London, to sign for Arsenal. I was not ready for that, everything was too fast, and I was very young. It was a very difficult moment for me.
“I would not say that it was a moment of great pressure, but mentally you are not prepared for so much.
“It was a difficult moment because you need time to process everything and start getting down and being normal, the first year it was difficult to be myself, to enjoy life and play, to be normal.
“But when you start you feel that you are the best of all and that you can do everything and nobody can tell you anything, that was the first mistake I made, over the years I was a better person and a better player.”
Part of the difficulty for Vela was that he arrived at Arsenal as a young man not yet fluent in English.
Adapting to a completely new lifestyle is hard enough, never mind when you can’t speak the language and interact with your fellow teammates.
At that time there were only two Spanish speakers in the senior squad, Cesc Fàbregas and Manuel Almunia, and Vela says it was the former who really helped him the most.
“A lot of people tried to talk to me,” he added.
“They try to make you a better person and player; the one who was always with me the most was Fábregas.
“He spoke the same language so it was easier for me, he always told me the right things, to introduce me to life in London.
“The culture was difficult for me because it was: ‘What am I doing here?’ – He taught me many things.”
