Bramall reveals extraordinary rise to the top

Arsenal plucked the young full-back from non-league obscurity when they made the decision to sign Cohen Bramall from seventh-tier side Hednesford Town and the player told an extraordinary story about how he lost his previous job before joining the Gunners.

The 20-year-old revealed that he was working at a Bentley car factory while also playing for Hednesford, but he was made redundant just before Christmas.

"I was at the Bentley factory for nearly a year," he told 'Sky Sports'. "It was a full-time job fitting radiators and working with big machinery on the production line. I was doing long hours and playing for Hednesford Town at the same time, going up for training on Tuesdays and Thursdays and playing matches on Saturdays. It was tiring and I was struggling to get to football sometimes".

He added: "When they told me I was thinking I needed to sort something else quick, I needed more money coming in," he says. "But the next day I got a phone call saying Arsenal wanted me to come down for a trial".

The new Arsenal recruit then said that he was expecting to train with the club's U-23 side, but was shocked to find out that he'd be training with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

"I thought it was a wind-up, I was going mad, but as soon as he told me he was serious I grabbed all my stuff and headed straight down to London," he said.

Bramall arrived at Arsenal's plush London Colney headquarters just as their senior players were walking in for training. "I was absolutely gobsmacked," he says. "I got there thinking I was going to be with the U23s but they told me I would be training with the first-team on the Thursday and Friday. I was like, 'wow'.

"The standard was insane. It was as sharp as anything. They kept the ball and popped it around so well. It was an absolute honour to be a part of it and everyone was so welcoming. Danny Welbeck, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chuba Akpom helped me through the whole thing. I felt like I did well".