Cohen Bramall has revealed what he had to do to impress Arsene Wenger and become Arsenal’s first signing of the January transfer window.
The 20-year-old left-back has joined the north London club from non-league Hednesford Town having caught the eye while on trial at the club’s Colney training base.
“I drove in there and then I saw Arsenal Football Club, I was absolutely gobsmacked,” he told Sky Sports News. “It was like a dream. It was so weird.
“I was with the first team on the Thursday and the Friday. My eyes just lit up straight away. I had to do my job. I just played to the best of my ability.
“I used my speed a lot overlapping from left-back and tried to get my body out there in front of Wenger,” Bramall added.
“[Wenger] came up to me after the session and it was literally a 'hi, nice to meet you'. And he said 'I like how you play'. Just them words, you don't get that a lot do you. It's amazing.”
Bramall is confident that following his remarkable move up from the seventh tier of English football he can break into Wenger’s first-team plans within the near year.
“It's going to be a big task but I think I can do it. Over the next six months I'm going to work physically and mentally and be ready for pre-season and hopefully break into the first team.”
Dan Chapman, Bramall’s agent, praised Wenger for giving his client the chance to impress and also hailed Brian McDermott, the former Reading manager, who recommended the youngster to Arsenal.
"Brian [McDermott] said to me 'can we get him after Christmas'? Thinking like an agent I said how about we get him down this afternoon.
“And Brian said 'give me two minutes and I'll come back to you' and he said 'if you can get him down this afternoon, I've spoken to Arsene Wenger and he'll look at him over the next two days'.
“All respect to Arsene Wenger. He was magnificent. He showed how humble he is. He didn't stick him on another pitch with the under-23s. He brought him straight in with the first team.
“That's the sort of respect he must have for Brian's judgement,” Chapman added.
