Arsenal's "special" deadline day signing labelled ‘next Robert Pires’ by Arsene Wenger

Thomas Eisfeld could barely believe what was happening on 31st January, 2012.

It was the deadline day which will never be forgotten in the Premier League.

Fernando Torres completed a blockbuster move to Chelsea whilst Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez joined Liverpool.

As all the drama elsewhere captured the headlines, Eisfeld was flown from Germany on a private jet and found himself sat in Arsene Wenger’s office.

He was just 19 at the time, and a few years earlier his agent had asked him the dream outcome of his career.

“I’d love to play for Arsenal at some stage,” he replied.

Somewhat out of the blue, his golden opportunity arrived.

“The deal was quite last-minute,” he recalls. “I was on a plane over, did the medical then was sat in Arsene’s office.

“Obviously as a young player it’s very, very exciting to meet someone of the calibre of Arsene Wenger.

“Especially because at the time I played for Dortmund Under-19s. I hadn’t had much to do with the first-team yet, I had trained with them only two or three times.

“I was quite new to senior football and now I was sat in Arsene Wenger’s office, talking to him about the way he wanted to play football, him giving me compliments.

“I think he said that I seemed to be a technically gifted player, and coming from him that was very, very special.”

The compliments Eisfeld received that day in Wenger’s office were nothing compared to those uttered by the legendary Frenchman after his first Arsenal start.

Having put together an impressive run at Under-23s level, the youngster caught the eye against West Bromwich Albion in a League Cup game in September 2013.

He scored the opener and was a live wire throughout, prompting Wenger to compare him to one of the stars of his Invincibles