Interview

'My father would have liked to play for Arsenal!'

Alex Runarsson has always had football in his blood.

His father, Runar Kristinsson, is Iceland's most capped player and has long been an inspiration for his son growing up.

 

"It's amazing,” Runarsson told Arsenal.com. "I'm extremely proud of him and what he achieved in his career and I want to make him proud.

 

"We've had a very good relationship from day one, obviously he's my father, but I feel we have a stronger connection than most father-son relationships and I know he's extremely proud.

 

"I think he would have liked to play for Arsenal as well, but he's going to have to live it through me! I had to tell him twice [that I was moving here] before he could believe me! He said you must be joking!

 

"My family will be extremely proud of me and I'm extremely proud of myself that I've been able to achieve this, but I think my family will experience the same amount of pride and happiness."

 

Runarsson started his career in Iceland with KR Reykjavik before heading to Denmark and eventually completing a move to Dijon in 2018. Despite making 45 appearances in Ligue 1, Runarsson has always had his eyes set on English football.

 

"I couldn't be more excited growing up as a young kid in Iceland," he said. "You watch the Icelandic league and you watch the Premier League, there's not much else that we watched football-wise.

 

"Everybody is a big fan of the Premier League and I'm just extremely proud to be able to experience it [myself].

 

"We've had some exceptional talents coming through our youth systems. I think it's a question of our character and mental toughness that's helped us to achieve these things.

 

"It's not the same growing up in Iceland where you can play football in good conditions maybe three months a year, so you need to have a little bit extra and I think that's why Iceland has had some great players in the Premier League."