George Lewis says Nicolas Pepe has been "like a big brother" and helped him settle in as he enjoys an impressive start to life at Arsenal.
Rwanda-born Lewis joined Arsenal on a free transfer earlier this summer having previously played in the lower leagues of Norwegian football with Fram Larvik.
Initially brought in to play for Arsenal's Under-23 side hopes are high for Lewis, who has regularly trained with Mikel Arteta's first team and featured in the pre-season match against MK Dons.
With Steve Bould's side his impact has been immediate, following a goal in a friendly against Tottenham with a composed finish in his first professional game in English football, a 2-1 win for Arsenal's Under-21s over Ipswich Town in the EFL Trophy.
Speaking after the game to Norwegian publication iTromso Lewis was at pains to credit Arsenal's record signing with making him feel at home.
“Pepe’s become a really good friend and is like a big brother to me," he said. "Of course, there are other players I get along with too, but most of all it’s Pepe. First of all, he’s a really good guy.
“He’s also a phenomenal footballer and we’re quite similar people on and off the pitch, so he’s really helped me settle here. That we both speak French also helps a lot."
Lewis' goal proved vital in ensuring that Arsenal's youth players began their new season in style. A strong Ipswich side who are among the bookmakers' favourites for promotion to the Championship this season took the lead when Jon Nolan turned in Alan Judge's cross but Arsenal's new signing Lewis struck just before the interval.
The Gunners then went on to impose themselves in the second half, Folarin Balogun converting after a fine through ball from Ben Cottrell whilst Miguel Azeez and Salah-Eddine went close to adding to Arsenal's lead.
"It was a really, really tough match," Lewis said. "I don’t think anybody expected us to do so well and go on to win this match. We had a bad start to the game, so to get that goal in stoppage time of the first half gave us the momentum to push through for the second goal at the start of the second half.
"It [the EFL trophy] is a tough tournament with a lot of good senior sides from League One and League Two.
"It’s academy sides against senior sides, so it will be a huge achievement if we were to go through to the knockout stages from that group.
"For a lot of players, this tournament is really important. Some players are in a position that they want to play first team football, and to play games like this with boys against men, they’re really important to show that you can play at the senior level."
