Ex-Portsmouth man Lenny Sowah: I joined Arsenal after visiting their training ground and asking for a trial

The left-back featured five times for Pompey in the Premier League, before departing for Hamburger SV in July 2010.

However, his first English club was the Gunners, where he started as a 14-year-old.

Months after Sowah’s family moved from Germany to Harlow, Essex, they tried their luck by visiting the Walthamstow training base of Arsenal’s Academy.

And within weeks he had earned an initial one-year deal.

Sowah told The News: ‘My parents wanted us to come to school in England. They felt the school system was very good and for us to become fluent in English as well as German would help in the future.

‘So we moved in the summer of 2007, but I had previously played for FC St Pauli’s youth team and still wanted to play football. My dream was to become a professional football player.

‘My dad asked who I wanted to play for. Well, I loved Thierry Henry and really wanted to play for Arsenal.

‘So we tried to find the address of their training ground on the internet, but for some reason it was hard to find. We asked around a few people we knew who lived in London and got the address, but no phone number.

‘In Germany, you can’t just walk up to a club and say “Hey I want to play for you. I want to train”. The same at Arsenal, otherwise they would get thousands of kids every day.

‘Still, we decided to try our luck and me and my dad drove to their Walthamstow training ground which the youth team used. We went to the office and explained.

‘We were told unfortunately it didn’t work like that. Maybe I could sign for a local team. There were a lot of scouts, if I was good enough they would scout me anyway.

‘As we were about to leave, the head of scouting came in and asked what was going on. We told him and he replied “Give him a go”.

‘With pre-season starting in two or three weeks, they gave me a date and time to show up. I trained for two weeks, played one match and they signed me for the season.’

Sowah would break his ankle early into his Arsenal career, leaving the North London giants to be hesitant over offering a two-year scholarship.

However, in the summer of 2008, he moved to newly-crowned FA Cup winners Pompey, signing a deal which included a scholarship and first-year professional deal.

He added: ‘Unfortunately, I broke my ankle after my third Arsenal appearance.

‘My first game back was in January, so I had only a few months of games to play. Arsenal wanted to see more of me before deciding whether to offer a two-year scholarship.

‘Instead they said I could have a one-year, but for me it was a no-go. Arsenal were wonderful, they even helped me find a new club.

‘Pompey wanted to sign me straight away, while Liverpool were ready to invite me to a trial.

‘First of all, I wasn’t a big fan of Liverpool – and I didn’t want to move too far away from my family home in Essex.

‘Pompey had just won the FA Cup, I had a good feeling about them, so I decided to move there.’

MORE: The Premier League record holder without a club: Lenny Sowah’s remarkable plight.

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