At the start of the week, Pleguezuelo had no idea that his wait for a senior opportunity was finally going to come to an end. He was preparing for the Arsenal u21s’ trip to Cheltenham on Tuesday night before he got the phone call that there’d been a change of plans.
“I was meant to be playing yesterday for the under-21s in the Checkatrade Trophy,” the centre-back explained. “I got a phone call that the first team needed me for training and I literally found out in training that I was starting. Everything happened so quickly and I’m so happy.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this. There’s a lot of hard work behind this and to be fair thank you very much to the boss for giving me the chance.”
Pleguezuelo then admitted that it’s his dream to stay with the club, even though he knows how difficult that journey will be.
“I want to play for Arsenal. That’s my dream. I want to keep playing for the first team and I’m just going to have to keep working, that’s all.”
The defender was one of four academy graduates to take part in Wednesday’s League Cup match. Emile Smith Rowe made the headlines with his first goal at the Emirates Stadium, Ainsley Maitland-Niles was returning from injury, and Alex Iwobi made a cameo appearance late on.
Those three should give players like Pleguezuelo hope that Arsenal and Unai Emery will give you the chances if you work hard and remain patient.
The defender is admittedly running out of time to make his mark, with his contract expiring in 2019. Perhaps now that he’s off the mark with the first-team though, he might find himself getting a few more opportunities. Let’s hope so.