It's certainly been a busy few months for Karl Hein. The Estonian has played every minute of Real Valladolid's La Liga campaign so far and starring for a team battling for survival certainly has it's challenges.
Hein has faced more shots than any goalkeeper in Spain's top flight this season and has certainly had his work cut out for him at times. Those who have seen him on a day-to-day basis though, feel the 22-year-old has come on leaps and bounds in [his first few months at Valladolid](https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/fixtures-results/arsenal-close-confirming-seventh-transfer-29689206).
"Karl arrived to us without any games in the top division and his personality allows him to play without fear," says Riccardo Pereira who worked as Hein's goalkeeping coach at Valladolid until recently. "It was not a surprise because we scouted him carefully but it was really good to see that Karl has the personality to play as a goalkeeper in La Liga despite being young. I think now he showed that even in a team that is struggling with defensive problems and that concedes goals, Karl did some really good progress."
Hein's journey to becoming a regular starter in one of Europe's big five leagues has been far from conventional. Despite only playing a handful of senior games in his career prior to this season, the 22-year-old already has 36 caps for his country. Estonia have something of a track record when it comes to producing top quality goalkeepers, and former Arsenal stopper Mart Poom has been a huge mentor in Hein's development.
For all the help he's had along the way though, making the journey from Estonia to Arsenal and then to La Liga is not easy. For Pereira it's the youngster's character that has allowed him to step up.
"Karl is an obsessive perfectionist in his improvement as a goalkeeper," Pereira says. "He really believes and it’s like a compromise that he has with himself that he should save all the balls, every ball. He’s really pissed off after any goal conceded - even in training or even with me when I shoot and score against him.
"He’s always asking for more information, always trying to analyse what he can do better. He wants to repeat when he doesn’t achieve the goal of the exercise or we score too many against him. He’s a kid with amazing personality."
Pereira is now with UAE league side Al-Ain where he works with former Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim. His impact on Hein within the space of a few months has been significant though. Upon his departure two weeks ago, Hein took to Instagram to post a story wishing Pereira the best of luck at his new club.
The Portuguese goalkeeping coach who worked with Ederson in the Benfica B team worked closely with Arsenal goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana and assistant coach Terry Mason to form a plan for what Hein needed to work on. Highlighted as key areas for development were one-vs-ones and positioning for in-match situations. Pereira believes the impact is already starting to take shape.
"We train to play," he says. "What I mean is that all of our methodologies are to prepare Karl to have a good set position and a good ability to arrive early to the ball that the opponent puts in to the space. Also to make a lot of decisions. This is a methodology with a big basis related to game-related situations. This helps Karl to decide better.
"After I felt that he needs to improve how deep he is to save shots from large distances. I felt that he needs to balance a bit more his set position. I felt that he needs to improve a lot in one-vs-one situations. Some of these weren’t just identified by us. Inaki had a very friendly conversation with me to help identify the individual needs of Karl. So we just did our job in good cooperation with Arsenal like it should be. Arsenal had an amazing attitude to help us to receive Karl well.
"We also made a lot of work with him with video feedback. After every session Karl normally had some footage of his session. All the time after the game two days after we sit with him to analyse his positioning and his decisions. We try to have a very close feedback related to his game and all the situations. It was very easy and it was different from what we do with all of our goalkeepers."
With Hein gaining experience and improving by the day in Spain he may well be casting half an eye to the future. The goalkeeping situation at Arsenal is far from certain. With [Neto set to return to Bournemouth after his loan spell](https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/neto-cant-play-arsenal-premier-30176194) at the end of this season, could the Estonian return to provide competition for David Raya next year?
"It’s not ethical for me to say what Arsenal should do," Pereira says. "What I can say is that a lot of big teams in Spain started to look to Karl because they understand his profile. He’s a profile who can play from the back, he’s really brave in coming for crosses, he’s starting to improve on one-vs-ones.
"I feel from his character and his self-confidence that after this experience he can be there with Arsenal. What I can say from what I know is that he will not be there just to be a number two.
"He will be there to respect everybody, the coaches decision and all the amazing qualities of Raya, but also to fight for his space and make the competition for the goalkeeping place interesting. Then it will be a choice for Arteta. I think he can fight to have a space in the Arsenal squad based on what I’ve seen from him and what I experienced working with him every day for five months."
For now though Hein's focus will be on keeping Valladolid safe in La Liga this season. The Ronaldo-owned side are four points adrift at the bottom of the table as things stands, but after overcoming so many hurdles to get to this point, who's to say Hein can't help get them out of trouble.