‘I was a bit rattled’, says Mavropanos about his Arsenal move in 2018

The 24-year-old is currently spending his second year on loan at

, with uncertainties about his long-term future at Emirates Stadium, but he is happy to have achieved a professional dream.

Mavropanos told

about being signed by

from

in Greece:

“Oh man, that was a crazy day. I remember it very well.

“I had a very good six months in Greece for my club PAS Ioannina and on New Year's Eve I got the call that Arsenal wanted to sign me. On 31 December I got the call and on 1 January I was already on my way to London to sign my contract.

“I was so nervous during those days. Suddenly such a big club like Arsenal wants you, I was a bit rattled.”

A man with eight appearances for the Gunners to his name added on his experiences in England:

“It was an adventure for me.

“It was my first time away from my home country of Greece and then at such a big club in a cosmopolitan city like London. It was a big difference.

“Suddenly you're sitting in the dressing room next to stars like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who you only knew from television before.

“When Sokratis came to Arsenal for the new season, it was worth its weight in gold for me. He was a mentor for me and helped me a lot off the pitch, but also in terms of reading the game from the defense, for example.”

The Greek defender experienced a difficult debut against

in the Premier League as he was forced to defend against

.

The Gunners were defeated 2-1 that day, but the event will be remembered fondly by a guy making his English top-flight debut.

“I'll never forget my debut,”

Mavropanos

said

.

“It was at Old Trafford against Man United and I was up against Romelu Lukaku. To this day, I haven't had to play against a better striker.

“We played Bayern and Dortmund in the Bundesliga with VfB but I never had the personal matchup with Robert Lewandowski or Erling Haaland. That's why I have to say that Lukaku has been my toughest opponent so far. His physique is very impressive, and he's so good technically that he's really very difficult to stop.”

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