As the young Arsenal forward Reiss Nelson made the drive from the university town of Heidelberg, cutting through the sparse villages of Hoffenheim and pulling into his loan club’s Zuzenhausen training complex, the sense of foreboding arrived.
‘You are surrounded by all these trees,’ smiles the 19-year-old winger. ‘I was just thinking “Where am I going to?”
It seems very small but it opens up into a beautiful modern place and you are kind of surprised. But then I got into the changing room. All the guys are speaking German and I’m thinking “What are they talking about?”
Young Arsenal forward Reiss Nelson has been making quite an impression on loan in Germany
In previous times, a young English player, so out of their comfort zone, may have scrambled for the fastest escape route.
Hoffenheim, after all, is far removed from the fast and furious pace of life in South London.
Nelson grew up in the maligned Aylesbury Estate made famous by Tony Blair’s first speech as Prime Minister in 1997.
When Blair visited Aylesbury, the estate was the lightning rod for him to declare that the ‘poorest people in our country have been forgotten’. The ITV crime soap The Bill used it as a gritty shooting location. For Nelson, it was simply home.
The 19-year-old moved out of his comfort zone to get first team action with Hoffenheim
Nelson admits he was initially daunted and could not understand what his team-mates said
‘Where I come from, the estates are not so nice,’ Nelson says. ‘It is a bit gritty. On my estate, there are dangerous things happening.
‘But I had my ball with me and that made me feel safe. I just went out to play. Street football...That’s where I developed my strength, mentality and ruthlessness.
‘I have an elder brother who adores me and pushed me on. He just said “Go out and play”. My family made big sacrifices but little gestures mean a lot. My sister took me to training when she was pregnant.
'My brother-in-law skipped work to get me to training. Our family get us through. We’d get the train, a bus and sometimes even walk to training. I’m just so happy it’s working out.’
Nelson is part of an English cohort talent defined by courage, self-confidence and open minds.
Nelson remains close friends with Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, a product of their shared upbringing in Kennington and subsequent German adventures. The pair represented Southwark together as Under-11’s in the London Youth Games.
Nelson signed a new long-term contract at Arsenal last summer and impressed on the club’s pre-season tour of Singapore. In the search for first-team football, he plumped for a season in Germany and the results were initially explosive.
Nelson scored on his debut and struck six goals in his first seven Bundesliga appearances. His progress has since been hampered by injury but the club’s director Alexander Rosen calls Nelson ‘really incredible’.
Gareth Southgate's assistant has made trips over to Germany specifically to see Nelson play
Nelson grew up playing with Jadon Sancho and is hoping to make a similarly big
