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"I was 15 when I first went over to train and I was in awe," he says. "But you get used to it and the limelight is taken off because you are working at your game. You don't think 'hey, I'm playing here with Henry'. That might be because even when coming over at first I did train an awful lot with the first team.
"Of course, when there are bigger games coming up it is mainly just the players who are going to play who train together. But Arsenal almost have two first-team squads. It is hard because of that but it but helps you improve. As a youngster especially, you want to be playing with the top players in the world and I have done that.
"The tempo you play at is not going to get any higher. You are not going to go to another club where they are going to move the ball quicker or have better passing skills. So you are playing right at the top and the only way is down. "
And teenagers, unless they have cost £12m like the young Irishman's team-mate Theo Walcott, can find themselves sliding down rapidly through becoming lost at so monumental an organisation. "Of course that can happen," Stokes says. "But you want to start at the top of the ladder; give yourself the best chance. I didn't want to go to a lower Premiership club because where do you go after if things don't go right? You want to strive to be the best you can be. I am with one of the best teams in Europe and I want to see if I can play here. I hope the experience of Arsenal will stand me in good stead whether I stay there or move on."