Arsenal new boy George Lewis scores on his debut, hails 'phenomenal' Pepe after

The Norwegian winger scored on his debut vs Ipswich and paid tribute to Pepe in the aftermath for helping him settle in London.

George Lewis signing up for Arsenal flew under the radar somewhat - not the least because he joined the U23s and not the main team. However, the youngster seems happy enough to develop at that level - for the time being.

Lewis even scored on his debut vs Ipswich in the EFL trophy. "It was a really, really tough match," he told Norwegian publication iTromso. "I don’t think anybody expected us to do so well and go on to win this match. We had a bad start to the game, so to get that goal in stoppage time of the first half gave us the momentum to push through for the second goal at the start of the second half.

"It [the EFL trophy] is a tough tournament with a lot of good senior sides from League One and League Two. It’s academy sides against senior sides, so it will be a huge achievement if we were to go through to the knockout stages from that group.

"For a lot of players, this tournament is really important. Some players are in a position that they want to play first-team football, and to play games like this with boys against men, they’re really important to show that you can play at the senior level."

Lewis also had time to praise Nicolas Pepe, both for the Ivorian's quality as a player and his human side which helped George settle after moving countries.

"Pepe’s become a really good friend and is like a big brother to me," he added. "Of course, there are other players I get along with too, but most of all it’s Pepe. First of all, he’s a really good guy.

"He’s also a phenomenal footballer and we’re quite similar people on and off the pitch, so he’s really helped me settle here. That we both speak French also helps a lot."

Lewis is still young enough - just 20 - to be considered a talent in the making and it will be interesting to see how much he develops over the next season or two. He was identified by the club and brought over on a permanent deal despite only playing for obscure Norwegian teams prior to that.