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Welcome to Héctor Bellerín's London

The Three Suns, snooker in Enfield, Irn-Bru, and getting his parents called on him…

Welcome to Héctor Bellerín's London

Images:

James Merritt / Getty Images / Héctor Bellerín

The Three Suns sounds like the perfect pub, doesn’t it? But I’m not necessarily going to go into my favourite pub right now. I’m going to talk about my years in London. When I think about my time in the capital, growing from a teenager to a sort of adult, I remember the sun coming out at three specific times. The rest of my memories, even though most of them are beautiful images and moments I recall often, are always tied together with mostly grey skies and little bits of rain. 

Oh, and by the way, my favourite pub was The Nelson’s, if you were wondering. More on that another time.

I had just turned sixteen the first time I saw the sun1 bright up there in the London sky. During my last season in La Masia, Arsenal invited me over to see what could be my new home. And, as curious a kid as I had always been, I happily accepted the offer to come and take a look. It would be my new home for over a decade.

I took a plane to Heathrow with my mum, my dad, and my agent, who, after 15 years working with me, is still somehow keen on dealing with this headcase, and we spent a lovely May weekend in the city with summer warming up in the sidelines. I met the boss, got presented with an offer, and watched Aaron Ramsey stick one past Edwin van der Sar in a thrilling 1–0 home win against United. That was May 1 2011, my first 3pm game experience—the stage I later on most enjoyed playing in—and the mother of some of the best memories I got as a player.

A few hours later, sitting next to my agent on the plane back home, I looked at him and told him, totally convinced and drunk off the magic events I’d just lived, that I had made my decision: I wanted to be a Gunner.