Dealing with rejection is one of the toughest aspects of football life, especially at such a young age.
When Nathan Tella was released by Arsenal at the age of 17, the winger didn’t know what to do next with his career.
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He was part of the famous Hale End Academy for ten years and grew up alongside rising stars such as Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe.
Speaking to Vavel in 2022, Tella said: “I couldn’t believe it, Arsenal was all I knew since I was discovered at the age of six.
“It was a bit embarrassing for me because I didn’t know how to tell all my friends and family that I was leaving Arsenal.
“It was tough because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Maybe stay at Arsenal, try to force them to make a different decision or whether I should take part in trials.
“I talked to my family, I talked to my agent and they said the best thing would be to go to tryouts to see what I can do and get out of my comfort zone.
“I had trials in Reading, Norwich and finally Southampton. Now things are going well, I’m really enjoying it.”
Moving from one prestigious academy to another showed the true talent Tella possessed. Southampton’s track record of producing stars is well documented, as evidenced by the likes of Adam Lallana, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gareth Bale.
But the Premier League is a tough place for a young player at the best of times, and after Southampton’s relegation in 2022, he moved on loan to Burnley, who also played in the Championship.
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Finally, after 32 appearances in two seasons in the top flight for St. Mary’s, Tella was given a new lease of life and led the Clarets to the league title.
With his 17 goals in 39 league games, Vincent Kompany’s team stormed to victory as top scorer and helped Burnley to 101 points.
But at the end of the rainbow, a bigger prize awaited Tella, who left Southampton on a permanent contract in the summer of 2023 to try something different – life abroad.
Bayer Leverkusen decided to snap up the striker during an ambitious transfer window when they bought Granit Xhaka from Arsenal.
The two players who might have met in the Arsenal squad in 2016 became Leverkusen’s two most expensive signings this summer: Xhaka arrived for £21.5 million and Tella for £20 million.
Before moving to the Bundesliga, Xhaka played for Arsenal for seven years, making 297 appearances and winning two FA Cups in 2017 and 2020.
The Swiss international endured a rollercoaster ride at the Emirates, where he was stripped of his captain’s armband but fought back and earned the love of the Arsenal fans.
Under manager Mikel Arteta, he found a new role that allowed him to venture further forward, and this contributed to his highest-scoring 2022/23 season, in which he scored nine times in all competitions – more than in his previous four seasons combined.
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And the Gunners have been told they are missing the midfielder as statistics show his influence in Germany.
Alex Grimaldo, Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann also moved to Leverkusen and experienced a historic season there, in which they won the Bundesliga title for the first time in their club’s history, and remained undefeated.
Harry Kane had also left the Premier League, moving from Tottenham to Germany. He was strongly expected to end his trophy-curse machine and win the league with the Bavarian giants.
But Leverkusen achieved the impossible and ended the dominance of Bayern, who had won the championship trophy every year since 2012.
In fact, Kane ended up without a trophy again, as Munich were eliminated in the first round of the DFB Cup against a third division team and also lost in the semi-finals of the Champions League against Real Madrid.
Xhaka was a crucial part of Xabi Alonso’s well-oiled machine and only Grimaldo (51) played more games than the midfielder (50).
With his breathtaking goal, Bayer secured the DFB Cup and completed the miraculous double by defeating second division side Kaiserslautern in the final.
As for Tella, the 25-year-old made 39 appearances in total, scoring six goals; he also made his debut for Nigeria last season.
What the future holds for the speedy striker remains to be seen, but as a Bundesliga champion he will never have to embarrass himself again.