Wojciech Szczesny believes he is a major beneficiary of Arsene Wenger's faith in young talent.
The Poland goalkeeper is now the undisputed No 1 at Emirates Stadium after being handed his Premier League debut at Manchester United in December 2010.
Szczesny was just 20 at the time and he says Wenger managed his ascent into first-team football perfectly - even if the goalkeeper wanted to play sooner.
"I'm obviously one of the most thankful for his philosophy because that got me into the first team"
"You always think you're ready earlier than you actually are," Szczesny told Arsenal Player. "But I think he brought me into the first team at the right time.
"I had my loan spell as well so I do feel like my career so far has been managed by him very well. I believe it's going to continue like that for a long time.
"I'm obviously one of the most thankful for his philosophy because that got me into the first team. I understand that if it wasn't for his idea of developing young players from the youth system into first team players, I probably wouldn't have got my chance so early.
"I'm very thankful for that and I think it's the right way to do it.
"It's an incredible achievement [to reach 1,000 games]," added Szczesny.
"I don't think in the modern game you experience that a lot with clubs not giving managers too much time to settle in, but the boss has done a fantastic job here."
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