'Cazorla was the first person to tell me about Arsenal's interest'

Nacho Monreal admits he knew nothing about the Gunners' interest until he received a call from his Spain team-mate on deadline day in 2013



The 29-year-old joined from Malaga in January 2013 and has gone on to cement his place as Arsene Wenger’s first-choice left-back ahead of Kieran Gibbs.



Monreal admits he was surprised by Arsenal’s interest and claims it was his Spain team-mate who first broke the news to him on the final day of transfer window.



“It was so quick, the transfer,” Monreal said in an interview with Arsenal’s official website.



“I remember on January 31, I woke up, looked at my phone and has two [missed] calls from Santi. And I thought it was really strange, Santi calling me in the morning. So I called him: ‘Santi, how are you? What’s happened? [he replied] Nacho, do you want to come to Arsenal? [I replied] What, pardon me? Yes, of course’.



“So the transfer was really quick. On one day I was training in the morning with Malaga and I didn’t know anything, and then 10 hours later I was signing my contract with Arsenal.



“It was a really, really strange day for me, really happy of course, a good day for me.” Nacho Monreal has revealed that he was first told about Arsenal’s interest from Santi Cazorla. The 29-year-old joined from Malaga in January 2013 and has gone on to cement his place as Arsene Wenger’s first-choice left-back ahead of Kieran Gibbs.Monreal admits he was surprised by Arsenal’s interest and claims it was his Spain team-mate who first broke the news to him on the final day of transfer window.“It was so quick, the transfer,” Monreal said in an interview with Arsenal’s official website.“I remember on January 31, I woke up, looked at my phone and has two [missed] calls from Santi. And I thought it was really strange, Santi calling me in the morning. So I called him: ‘Santi, how are you? What’s happened? [he replied] Nacho, do you want to come to Arsenal? [I replied] What, pardon me? Yes, of course’.“So the transfer was really quick. On one day I was training in the morning with Malaga and I didn’t know anything, and then 10 hours later I was signing my contract with Arsenal.“It was a really, really strange day for me, really happy of course, a good day for me.”