Bellerín: 80% of My Football Understanding Came From Arteta

Héctor Bellerín is once again a pivotal figure in Real Betis' new project. In an interview with The Guardian, the right-back discussed his current spell at the club and his career at Arsenal – the team he will face tonight in a friendly match in Ireland. “I still feel they are family. London gave me space to explore my world, to mature. There are places that can restrict you, but London was a place where I could grow, get to know life,” he shared, recalling that familiar faces, like manager and friend Mikel Arteta, are still at the club.

Bellerín was 16 when he arrived in London: “The first thing Liam Brady, the academy director, gave us was an Oyster card. We earned 400 euros a month, but we had a sense of independence. We didn't feel overly protected or abandoned. We had to take two buses and the Tube to get to training. For 12 years, I lived in many different places. I spent the pandemic on a 17th-century farm in St Albans, accessible only by a dirt track.”

The player expressed his joy at Arsenal's league title win last season: “One of the best things when they won the league was that many people messaged me, and I felt a part of it. I talk to a lot of people, we are all Arsenal fans, and it was like a liberation, a relief after such a long time.”

Regarding Arteta, who was first his teammate and then his coach, he shared: “I would say 80% of my football comes from Mikel's mind. His vision is completely different. He has understanding, observation, he sees patterns and has a very specific language. I dare say he gave me extra years in my career. I play in a completely different way compared to when I was 19. This is due to experience, but also to many of the things I learned from Mikel: how to help my teammate, how to create advantages in my zone. I owe him a lot.”

Then came the moment to part ways with Arsenal and move to Betis: “There's no specific reason. Something happened, but it's not one definite thing; it's more a kind of disconnection where I felt I could no longer help the club, nor could the club help me. We resolved it in the most amicable way. Maybe I needed to be close to my roots, to home. It had been a long time. When you leave a club like Arsenal, it's scary. It hurts. No matter how much you know your time is up, it was your home. You've been there for ten years, you leave friends, a life... you don't know what awaits you on the other side. I was lucky.”

The happiness he found at Betis: “What impressed me most was the dressing room. There's something special about the relationships with the rest of the staff. In my other clubs, this didn't exist. This is our essence, what sustains us. And it aligns with my values. In Seville, I found a city that embraced me, that allowed me to be myself both on and off the pitch.”