Monreal feels at home with Gunners

Cape Town - Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal says that he feels “at home on and off the pitch” in London.

The Spain defender joined Arsenal from Malaga in January 2013, making a seamless transition to Premier League football with a string of impressive performances in his debut season.

Monreal has since established himself as one of the best left-backs in England and says that he could not be happier in north London.

“Everything feels right,” he said on the club’s website.

“I can say that I feel at home on and off the pitch.

“If you don’t feel good off the pitch and in life in general, obviously you can’t give 100%.

“However, at the moment, I love England, I love London and I love my team-mates so everything is positive.

“When I arrived here I knew that the first thing I had to do was learn English because, if you want to speak to your team-mates, the staff and anyone here, you need to learn the language.

“It was difficult for me because I’m very bad with different languages but I am trying.

“Mikel, Santi and Hector were very helpful for me because I didn’t speak English when I arrived, I didn’t understand anything, so every time I had a problem or didn’t understand something they explained it to me.

"Even in the evenings, sometimes you have nothing to do and you can spend your time with them. They helped me a lot.”