Our Young Gun series gets to know the academy youngsters kicking off their careers at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.
Cecily Wellesley-Smith spoke to us recently about her loan spell at Leicester, making her senior debut, and her upcoming loan to Sweden.
I’ve been at Arsenal since the summer of 2024. I was expecting a big jump before making the move, but the environment, the players, the quality, it’s been amazing. I’m always trying to learn as much from all of the squad, but particularly Leah, Steph, Lotte and Codi, who play in my position.
When you start moving up from the Academy to the first-team set-up, it takes a while to adjust to the reality of it. Academy football is all about development and building players for the future, while first-team football is naturally focused on results and putting in great performances as a collective, rather than just as an individual.
What I’ve really noticed from our squad is how they prepare in the build-up to a game. How you turn up in the days before a match has such an impact on how the game will go.
It’s not just about putting in the work on the pitch, it’s also the standards you work at off the pitch. It’s how hard you work in the gym, it’s what you eat and it’s how you recover. Everything is so important.
Since I’ve been playing in the first-team environment at Arsenal, we’ve worked on my ability to win 1v1 duels, increasing my aggression as a centre back and how to remain consistent on the ball.
It’s similar to being in the Academy, where we have personal development plans. Everyone has individual focuses and super-strengths to build on, along with what we’re building together as a team.
It’s really the people who make Arsenal special. It’s not just the players, it’s the staff and everyone who works behind the scenes, like Sue! Everyone’s so friendly and it makes our time here so enjoyable. It feels like a second family.
Being in Lisbon for the UEFA Champions League final was crazy for a lot of reasons, and not just because I had my A-Levels the day before! So I sat an exam and then flew out just in time for the game.
"It’s really the people who make Arsenal special. It’s not just the players, it’s the staff and everyone who works behind the scenes, like Sue!"
I spent the first half of this season on loan with Leicester City, which was a new experience in many ways. On the pitch, off the pitch, seeing how the game works behind the scenes – there was a lot to learn.
Moving to Leicester was the first time I’d ever moved away from home. It was nice to have that freedom, but it was a bit scary at the same time.
I had some lovely team-mates around me, including a few girls I knew beforehand from playing for the England youth teams.
All of the young players at Arsenal are really close, so we’re always chatting and checking in on each other, whether we’re on loan or still at the training ground. We’re all really supportive of each other and it’s so great to have that base.
I was dual registered with Oxford United last season, so I’d never been on a full loan before, but my time at Leicester was a good one.
It was a different style of training and coaching, different international players and a different position in the league, so just trying to pick up points whenever we could was the most important thing.
Looking ahead to the rest of this season, I’m hoping to make as many appearances as possible on my next loan spell at FC Rosengard in the Damallsvenskan, so that I can keep developing as a player and as a person.
Heading out to play in Sweden is going to be an even bigger challenge than Leicester was and I can’t wait!
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Cecily Wellesley-Smith joins FC Rosengard on loan](https://www.arsenal.com/news/cecily-wellesley-smith-joins-fc-rosengard-loan?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
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