Hector Bellerin has revealed the one crucial piece of advice that he was given by a former mentor that has helped him become the player he is today.
The Arsenal full-back stated that it was just being told to consistently work hard that made him knuckle down and fight for his footballing dream, and that such a mantra has stuck with him throughout his professional career.
Speaking to the club's official site about what spurred him on to become a footballer, Bellerin divulged that it was the words of Victor Sanchez that gave him the belief and drive to progress through Barcelona's famed La Masia academy before his eventual move to the Premier League with Arsenal.
He said: "At the beginning, you're just playing football for fun. 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.
Hector Bellerin: "I used to run the most in training and I think I really got the mentality that hard work was going to take me far." pic.twitter.com/I3lXilBP3J
"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.
"When I look back I think I always had it in me anyway but I just didn't realise when I was a kid that I was really working hard, I was really only having fun. But to be fair, 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."
Bellerin has made 89 appearances for Arsenal - 16 of which have come this season - since his debut in September 2013.
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