I felt embarrassed after Arsenal release, but I still won league title alongside Gunners hero
Dealing with rejection is one of the toughest parts of being a footballer, especially being so young.
So when Nathan Tella was released by Arsenal at the age of 17, the winger was at a loss for what to do next in his career.
He had been a part of the famous Hale End academy for 10 years, growing up alongside rising stars like Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe.
Speaking to Vavel, Tella said in 2022: “I couldn’t believe it, Arsenal was all I knew from the age of 6 when I got scouted.
"For me it was a bit of an embarrassment because I didn’t know how I was going to tell all my friends and family that I was leaving Arsenal.
"It was tough because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Maybe stay at Arsenal, try force their hand and make another decision, or if I was to go out on trials.
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"I spoke to my family, I spoke to my agent they said its best to go trials to see what I can do and get out of my comfort zone.
"I had trials at Reading, Norwich then ultimately Southampton and it's good now, I’m really enjoying it.”
Joining one esteemed academy from another showed the true talent that Tella had, with Southampton's record for producing stars well documented with players such as Adam Lallana, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gareth Bale all examples.
But the Premier League is a tough place for a young player at the best of times and, before Southampton were relegated in 2023, he joined Burnley on loan, who were in the Championship.
Finally, after 32 appearances across two seasons at St. Mary's in the top tier, Tella came alive - leading the Clarets to the Championship title.
His 17 goals in 39 Championship matches saw Vincent Kompany's men storm to victory success as their top goalscorer and help Burnley claim 101 points.
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But there was a bigger prize at the end of the rainbow for Tella, who left Southampton on a permanent deal in the summer of 2023 to try something different - life abroad.
Bayer Leverkusen decided to snap up the forward during an ambitious transfer window when they purchased Granit Xhaka from Arsenal.
The two players, who might have passed each other in the corridor at Arsenal in 2016, became Leverkusen's two most expensive signings that summer with Xhaka joining for £21.5m and Tella for £20m.
Xhaka had been at Arsenal for seven years before his Bundesliga switch, making 297 appearances and winning two FA Cups in 2017 and 2020.
The Switzerland international had a rollercoaster of a ride at the Emirates where he was stripped of the captaincy but fought back to earn the Arsenal fan's love.
Under manager Mikel Arteta, he found a new role venturing further forward and it contributed to his best goalscoring campaign in 2022/23 where he scored nine times in all competitions - more than his previous four seasons combined.
And the Gunners have been told that they miss the midfielder, with stats showing his level of influence in Germany.
Alex Grimaldo, Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann also made the move to Leverkusen where they would enjoy an historic season, winning the Bundesliga for the first time in their history and doing so unbeaten as well.
Harry Kane had also left the Premier League for Germany, joining Bayern Munich from Tottenham and it was heavily expected that he would end his trophy hoodoo by winning the league with the Bavarian giants.
But Leverkusen pulled off the impossible, ending Bayern's dominance which saw them win the Meisterschale every year since 2012.
In fact, Kane would end up going trophyless again as Munich crashed out of the DFB-Pokal Cup in the early rounds to a third-tier side as well as losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final.
Xhaka was a crucial part of Xabi Alonso's well-oiled machine and only Grimaldo (51) played more matches than the midfielder (50).
It was his stunning goal that saw Bayer win the DFB-Pokal Cup - completing a miraculous double - by beating second-tier outfit Kaiserslautern in the final.
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As for Tella, the 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all where he scored six times, also making his debut for Nigeria last season.
What the future holds for the flying forward remains to be seen but as a Bundesliga champion, he will never be embarrassed again.