Arsene Wenger has spoken of his huge regret that Serge Gnabry failed to make an impact during his time at Arsenal.
The winger netted a Champions League semi-final brace for Bayern Munich on Wednesday and once again showed why he is one of the most feared attackers in Europe.
Gnabry has excelled since moving to the Bundesliga from the Emirates in 2016, where he was not successful.
The Germany international had a five-year spell with the Gunners between 2011 and 2016, making just 18 first-team appearances under Wenger.
Grate strike Gnabry pic.twitter.com/0sUdFqjDx8
— Opoku Sharkurr Elvis (@ElvisSharkurr) August 20, 2020
He struggled with injury problems and memorably could not get a game while on loan at Tony Pulis’ West Brom in 2015.
Wenger says Gnabry but the player chose to reject a new contract at Arsenal in the summer of 2016 after previously agreeing to the deal.
“Let’s not forget Gnabry, I bought him at the age of 15 from Stuttgart and he was injured a lot,” Wenger told beIN SPORTS .
“He’s creative, he can score goals, right-footed, left-footed, good power, good penetration, very, very clever with the timing of his runs. His tendency was a bit too easy, like I told you about with young, talented players.
- Premier League fixtures for 2020-21 season to be released today
- Is It Ever Okay To Settle?
- Michael Olunga sets new record as Kashiwa beat Vissel Kobe
- How to Deal With the Frustration That Covid-19 Isn’t Over Yet
“But he has matured a lot and he is one of the dominant players now in Germany.”
Gnabry joined Werder Bremen but Wenger claims Bayern Munich struck a deal with Bremen to sign him a year after, which they did.
Wenger added: “No, no [I didn’t want to let him go]. We had an agreement with him. I had given him out on loan to West Brom and he didn’t play a game, came back, he was injured.
I was very sad that we couldn’t get over the line with him because I knew that he would have a great future. He can play No 10, he can be a No 9, he is a very intelligent player.”
Gnabry has scored 23 goals for Bayern this season as they look to make it a treble with victory over Paris Saint-Germain the Champions League final on Sunday.
He also has 13 goals in 13 games for Germany and the 25-year-old looks to be going from strength to strength in his career.
For Arsenal fans it is just another player who got away from them at a time when they have struggled to sign world class talent like in the glory years under Wenger.
