Arsenal defender Taylor Foran says he appreciated last season's loan with Hartepool.

The 20 year-old had six months at Hartlepool in the second-half of last season.

He told Arsenal's matchday programme: "My loan move to Hartlepool came on deadline day last year, the day before I was meant to go to Newport but the deal fell through. Then, Keith Curle, the manager at the time called me and said he'd monitored me for some time and expressed a lot of interest in me. It happened really quickly and I shot up there that night. When I got there the Hartlepool fans were amazing, they are so special and to play in front of them each week was a pleasure. Up north particularly the passion for football is different.

"The difference between senior football and academy football is that there's a lot more hunger and desire to win because it's so important. People are playing for their lives, playing for their kids, their mortgages which brings about that extra level of needing to win. We were in a relegation battle and unfortunately went down and the impact it can have on players is massive, so you feel that each week, some people will have to take pay cuts and lose jobs. In senior football you have to get results.

"The toughest grounds in terms of atmosphere I'd say was Valley Parade, home of Bradford City and it was an incredible experience playing there because they've got about a 25,000 seater stadium and they had over 18,000 fans there, so it was great to play in an atmosphere like that. They were one of the very few who had a decent pitch because some of the surfaces weren't great so we had to adapt quickly.

"It's also more physical which stems from the hunger to win. I remember when we played Salford City I was up against Matt Smith who's 6ft 6 – so that was a challenge in itself. The experience was really positive and I took a lot of learning from it.

"My plan for the rest of the season is to play as many games for the U21s as possible but I want to be able to potentially go on loan and play senior football again, I really enjoyed it and I'm at the age where I want to push myself out my comfort zone and make a name for myself in the game. I also feel like I can thrive in a first-team environment."