Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom has admitted that being a part of the club's recent tour of Asia has left him desperate to be achieve more first-team action.
The 17-year-old was one of several youth players taken on the Gunners' travels, and he enjoyed a successful tour by scoring four goals in as many matches.
"It was a good experience. It's new for me because I'd never been to Asia and I'm not really around the first team. I had never really travelled with them [before]," Akpom told reporters. "I would like to do it more, so hopefully if I keep working hard and stay in the team [I can do it].
"Now I know how they live, how they train and everything, and I'm kind of getting used to it. Hopefully I can stay here and keep coming on tours like this. My hand is hurting from signing so many autographs! You can see how famous the players are in Asia. We've been to a lot of signing sessions and a lot of events and I don't really get to do that.
"It's new for me but it's a good experience. It motivates me. When you come out here and you see all of this, you want it yourself. You want people to be screaming your name and you want people to respect you. It makes me want to push more to get into the first team and get the same reputation that they have."
Akpom scored the winning goal in Arsenal's final match of the tour as they beat Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 on Friday.
Matt Cotton
