I was playing Championship football but 12 months on could be Invincible just like my Arsenal hero

Bayer Leverkusen forward Nathan Tella is living proof of how quickly a footballer’s career trajectory can change.

The 24-year-old penned a five-year-deal with the German club just days before last summer’s transfer deadline.

At the start of the 2022/23 season, Tella secured a season-long loan to Burnley having broken into the first-team at parent club Southampton.

Tella would be forgiven for thinking his superb contributions to Burnley’s Championship title-winning campaign would have resulted in either increased playing time at St Mary’s or a permanent move to the north west.

But neither of those options materialised for the Stevenage-born Nigeria international, despite an impressive 19 goals in 45 games for Vincent Kompany’s side.

Instead, it was Xabi Alonso who came calling with the hope of adding the talented forward to his phenomenal young squad.

A £20million offer was enough for the Saints to part ways, claiming ‘the offer represented fair value’ for their academy star.

Tella has gone on to play a fundamental role in Leverkusen’s heroics this season but his success was a byproduct of Alonso’s man management as he adapted to life in Germany.

Bayer Leverkusen’s managing director of sport Simon Rolfes said of Tella: “Nathan Tella came late in the transfer window in August and he needed time to adapt.

“He was always ambitious to develop himself and also to give good energy to the team and towards the team.

“Now he’s getting much more minutes than at the beginning of the season. That’s also a success story for himself and also for the team.”

Tella began his football education in Arsenal’s academy and it was there where he found his biggest football influence – Gunners’ legend Thierry Henry.

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“I’ve always been an Arsenal fan and at that time I’d look at Thierry Henry and say he was my biggest inspiration in football,” Tella told the Southern Daily Echo last year. 

“He’s someone I tried to model my game after. Of course, at seven-years old you can’t really say you play like someone but the stuff he was doing in games I would try to do with my local team.

“He was someone I looked at and I wanted to play my game like, especially because I moved to the right wing where he played.”

But if Tella viewed his year at Turf Moor as history-making, he had not seen anything yet.

Fast forward 12 months and Tella is on the cusp of emulating Henry’s 2004 feat of going the entire league season unbeaten.

Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s domestic stranglehold by scooping their first-ever Bundesliga crown last month, with further greatness awaiting this weekend.

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If Tella and his teammates avoid defeat at home to Augsburg on Saturday then they will have secured a historic unbeaten campaign, similar to Henry and his ‘Invincibles’ teammates in 2004.

Leverkusen have gone one better than Arsene Wenger’s historic side by remaining unbeaten in all competitions this term.

Xabi Alonso’s men have already booked their place in next Wednesday’s Europa League final in Dublin against Serie A side Atalanta.

Three-days later, Leverkusen will take on second-tier outfit Kaiserslautern in the DFB Pokal final – Germany’s equivalent of the FA Cup.

Tella will have the chance to add to his seven goals this season while playing his part in what could be one of European club football’s most unique campaigns.