The highly promising Mexican forward signed for the Gunners in
2005, but was blocked from playing in England due to FIFA’s strict
rules regarding work permits.
Consequently, the 19-year-old has spent the last three seasons on
loan in Spain, enduring stints with Salamanca, Celta Vigo and most
recently Osasuna.
And after impressing in La Liga, the ex-Guadalajara youngster has
been belatedly granted permission to join the Arsenal squad, which
he will do this July for pre-season training.
"England is going to be different," said Vela. "It's going to be
hard the first few months. But you adapt over time."
"It will be a dream [to play in the Champions League]," he added.
"I've always watched it on television and playing in it will be
amazing."
Vela won't be the only top rated Mexican youngster that will be
making their debut in the Premier League next seaon, as Arsenal's
London rivals have just managed to pull off a transfer coup with
the signing of Giovani Dos Santos from Barcelona.
"We're going to be near each other. Hopefully, we both do well," he
said, before insisting that Mexican players have now slowly but
surely overcome their long-held inferiority complex when it comes
to European football.
"We've seen that we can do it," Vela added. "In the beginning we
thought it was very hard—that the soccer was on a different level.
But now we're seeing the players are succeeding."