Serge Gnabry delighted fans last night seeing him torment Tottenham Hotspur to the bone. The forward's impressive performance now has Arsenal fans wondering why the club ever let him go, and Arsene Wenger has revealed the reason why.
Gnabry, now completely over his fitness issues that stunted his growth early in his career and is now an integral member of Bayern Munich, is showing off the skills that former Arsenal boss always knew he had.
The German national has risen through the youth ranks, debuting in the Premier League in 2013 and immediately scored on his second start in 2-0 victory at Swansea. Gnabry's stint with Arsenal only earned him 11 appearances, however. His last game for the north London club in 2014 was coincidentally against Bayern, before suffering a knee ligament injury that left him off the pitch for almost the entire year.
Under Wenger's leadership, Arsenal at the time had several players vying for a spot at the Emirates Stadium, namely Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Gnabry suddenly found himself loaned out to West Brom, where he failed to convince Tony Pulis. Then came the 2016 Olympics, where Gnabry finished as the tournament's joint top goalscorer.
According to Wenger, Arsenal were already drafting Gnabry's contract extension but the 24-year-old changed his mind and moved on with Werder Bremen instead.
"We didn't want to get rid of Gnabry, we wanted to keep him," Wenger said. "But he was in the last year of his contract. We were close to extending his contract but finally he changed his mind and went to Werder Bremen."
The Frenchman, however, believes that Arsenal had taught Gnabry a lot.
At Bremen, the German winger only stayed for a season and was nabbed by Bayern for only €8 million. He was immediately loaned to Hoffenheim and returned to the Allianz Arena with a bang, winning the club's player of the season award last term.
Gnabry made the headlines most recently after defeating the Spurs, Arsenal's long-time rivals, 2-7.
The star earned four goals for Bayern Munich and cheekily posted a tweet, saying "London is red!" Given Tottenham was mightily crushed, Arsenal fans would have rejoiced but must also wonder what could have been if the skillful winger decided to stay.
