Arsenal defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles has thanked Arsene Wenger for showing trust in him during his breakthrough campaign at the Emirates Stadium.
The 20-year-old has featured in every matchday squad since mid-December and has 24 appearances under his belt in all competitions - 10 of those coming in the Premier League.
Maitland-Niles was also rewarded with his England Under-21s debut earlier in the season and has gone on to represent his nation at that age-grade level a further three times.
Wenger has been credited by the youngster for showing enough belief in him, and the academy graduate now hopes to repay that faith.
"I owe him a lot for believing in me and telling me I need to work on stuff before he has put me out there," he told Sky Sports News. "I come in every day and try and work as hard as I can on the things I know I need to work hard on and the things that other people pull me up about to be the best that I can.
"Me personally, he's a very trusting person. He has a lot of belief in his players and whenever you want to talk to him about something his door's always open - you can always walk in. Especially on the training pitch, he does put his arm around you when he thinks, 'Look, I need to get into this player and tell him in a nice way how he needs to improve on this and that', and it gives you a lot of confidence that the boss believes in you.
"You could talk to him about anything. He's such a loving guy, he treats every player as family. It depends how open you are as well to go and speak to him. It's almost like he can be your dad, but he's your coach at the same time, so he's giving you that push in both areas."
Maitland-Niles was part of England's World Cup-winning squad at Under-20s level last year.
Daniel Lewis
