Aaron Ramsey has admitted that he felt "out of place" when he first joined Arsenal from Cardiff City in 2008.
The Welsh midfielder had made only 16 Championship appearances before making the move to the Emirates Stadium aged just 17, but he went on to enjoy an 11-year career with the Gunners.
Ramsey revealed that then-manager Arsene Wenger was a major reason for him joining the club, and hailed the "world-class" players in the dressing room for making him feel welcome.
"It happened so quickly at Cardiff. I played the final game of the season before and then had a pre-season, went off with first-team, we had a mad cup run where we got to the final and that was it then. It was done within the year," Ramsey said during an Instagram Live video.
"All my life I've been trying to achieve this thing of playing for Cardiff and then the next thing I know I'm walking into a dressing room with the likes of [Cesc] Fabregas, [William] Gallas and [Kolo] Toure. I'm 17 years old, I'm just like, 'What's going on here?!' I just felt out of place but they were really cool guys, made you feel really welcome but still, you had to pinch yourself.
"Wenger was a massive pull. He would give youngsters opportunities, he talked me through how he saw my career path going, how he wanted to improve me and what I needed to improve on. He brought me straight into the first-team to train every day with these world-class players and he believed in me. I just felt he really wanted and felt like he made the most effort to try and secure me."
Ramsey went on to make 369 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 64 goals and assisting the same number.
Barney Corkhill
