Kieran Tierney has revealed how impressed he was with Gabriel Martinelli after his first full Arsenal training session.
Both players arrived at the Emirates Stadium last summer, costing £25m from Celtic and £6m from Brazilian outfit Ituano respectively.
But while Martinelli's move was complete at the beginning of the window, the Scotland international's transfer didn't go through until deadline day - a day before the 2019/20 Premier League got underway.
A double hernia operation meant Tierney was slowly introduced to training sessions.
After a few light sessions as well as playing a game for the U23's last September, he stepped up his bid to make his first-team debut by taking part in a full session following the first international break of the season.
And it was there where the left-back first came across Martinelli in close quarters.
When asked by an Arsenal supporter - during a Q&A session on Reddit - 'Who was the player you were most blown away by during your first few training sessions?' there was only ever going to be one answer.
"Gabriel Martinelli," Tierney said.
"When I first did a full training session with the team I was put up against him and the intensity of his play was honestly mindblowing and I thought to myself this is the standard I need to be at to play for Arsenal."
Tierney and Martinelli have forged a decent understanding down Arsenal's left-hand side this season.
The latter benefitted from Tierney's pinpoint crossing to help himself to a couple of goals in the Europa League during the group phase against Standard Liege and Vitoria.
However, their partnership was put on hold shortly before Christmas when Tierney was hit with an injury setback.
A dislocated shoulder sustained in the 3-1 win over West Ham United - a game in which Martinelli scored his first Premier League goal - kept the left-back out of action for the remainder of 2019 and the first couple of months in 2020.
He returned to full training towards the end of February, but his comeback has been placed on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic which has prompted football across the world to be suspended.
