Chuba Akpom says the Asia Tour has been a hugely informative experience - both on and off the pitch.
The young striker impressed with some livewire performances in the Far East, and scored four times in four games.
The 17-year-old was delighted to get his chance with the first team, but says he learnt just as much from being around them on a day-to-day basis.
"Now I know how they live, how they train and everything, and I'm kind of getting used to it. Hopefully I can stay here and keep coming on tours like this"
“It was a good experience,” Akpom told Arsenal Player. “It's new for me because I'd never been to Asia and I'm not really around the first team. I had never really travelled with them [before].
“I would like to do it more, so hopefully if I keep working hard and stay in the team [I can do it]. Now I know how they live, how they train and everything, and I'm kind of getting used to it. Hopefully I can stay here and keep coming on tours like this.
“My hand is hurting from signing so many autographs! You can see how famous the players are in Asia. We've been to a lot of signing sessions and a lot of events and I don't really get to do that. It's new for me but it's a good experience.
“It motivates me. When you come out here and you see all of this, you want it yourself. You want people to be screaming your name and you want people to respect you. It makes me want to push more to get into the first team and get the same reputation that they have.”
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.