Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin has praised many of his teammates, having included six current Gunners in his Sky Sports ‘One2Eleven’.
The 20-year-old Spaniard hasn’t played with hundreds of players since making his way up through the successful Arsenal youth academy. However, the players he has featured alongside have been in the top-calibre – after making his first-team debut last season.
Bellerin, too, has become a top player in his own right, but he has praised a bulk of his Gunners teammates.
The best goalkeeper that Bellerin has ever played in front of, is Petr Cech, because of his experience.
I’ve played with a few good [goalkeepers], especially at Arsenal, but I’m going to choose Cech. Since the moment he came to the club with the quality he has and the experience, it has helped me a lot.
He’s given me a lot of advice as a young player and not just as a goalkeeper, but as a person, I rate him a lot.
The Spanish U21 international has also been full of praise for his fellow defensive partners, Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal. Whilst talking about Koscielny, Bellerin says he is one of the best in the world.
He’s one of the top centre-backs in the world right now and has improved a lot in the last four or five years. He has a very good technique, knows when to play the ball and he scores a lot of goals as well.
And then moving on to his compatriot, Monreal – Bellerin insists that he’s one of the best players he’s come across.
He had a few games last year as a centre-back and he’s one of the best players I’ve come across. He’s a great person as well who helped me a lot in the dressing room when I was coming in as a young player.
Unsurprisingly, Bellerin has also included several Arsenal midfielders in his best XI. Santi Cazorla makes the cut after being nicknamed ‘the little magician’.
He’s the little magician, that’s what we call him. Just training with him and seeing how good he is with both feet, I’ve never seen a player like that. He makes the game look so easy for someone when you think how small he is on the pitch.
Another world-class midfielder has been subject of praise from Bellerin, and that man is Mesut Ozil. The German World Cup winner has had an exceptional start to the season, assisting 10 goals already.
He is one of the most intelligent players I’ve played with and has an eye for the pass that no one else sees.
I don’t think there’s a better no.10 than him at the moment. When he first came to Arsenal we were all very excited and now he’s showing us what he’s all about.
When I first got to train with him [when I joined the first-team] it was unbelievable to see the stuff he could do. I feel very lucky to share a dressing room with him.
Next, Chilean winger, Alexis Sanchez. Since signing from Barcelona in 2014, Alexis has become a star at Arsenal, and in the Premier League.
Bellerin explains how hard it is to defend against the Chilean international and says admitted he is delighted to wear the same kit as him.
A player like him is always so hard to defend against. I’ve been training with him for more than a year and it’s still so hard, you literally never know what he’s going to do, he’s so quick, always touches the ball at the last-minute and has an eye for goal as well.
It’s always nice to know that you have a player who at any minute of the game can score from like 40 yards. We are very happy at the club to have him in our team and it’s a joy to train with him every day.
