Bellerin credits hard work for his Gunners rise

Hector Bellerin has firmly established himself as one of the best full-backs in the Premier League and claims there has been no substitute for hard work during his ascent.

The Spaniard, still only 21 years old, made his breakthrough back in 2014-15 as he appeared 28 times for Arsenal, before playing on 44 occasions last term.

He created nine goals in 2015-16, behind only Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in terms of Gunners assists, to demonstrate his attacking capabilities.

Bellerin is also reliable at the back and admits the way he approaches the game of football has changed over time.

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“At the beginning, you’re just playing football for fun,” said Bellerin. “There was one year when obviously everything just keeps getting tougher, you keep getting older, it is much more competitive and you need that little bit more of an edge.

“I remember I had this coach, I talk about him a lot, his name is Victor Sanchez. He’s the first coach that kind of introduced the psychological side of football to us.

“He is the first one that told me, ‘Hector if you work really hard, you can really become someone’. Since then, that’s been my ethic.

“I used to be the one who ran the most in training and I think since that day, probably when I was 14 or 15, that’s when I really got that mentality that hard work was going to take me far.

“It’s hard for 365 days a year to be fully focused and always work at 100 per cent but if you really want to be up there, you have to do it.

“That’s how I still do it today and I think obviously that’s what has taken me here, so I’m going to keep working in training every day.”