Arsene Wenger concedes he’s ‘very sad’ that Serge Gnabry left Arsenal only to go on to become one of the best footballers in world football.
The German winger signed for the Gunners at the age of just 15 from Stuggart and Arsene Wenger was a huge admirer of the Bayern Munich star.
Serge Gnabry was tipped for big things in London but a disastrous loan spell with West Brom created major doubts in the German’s mind about life in the Premier League.
The winger returned to the Emirates and agreed to signing a new contract before going back on the verbal agreement. Gnabry left for German side Werder Bremen for only £5m, but eventually moved to Bayern Munich 1 year later.
The player has now become one of the most feared wingers in the world at Bayern and he scored a brace against Lyon to send the club through to the Champions League final, where they’ll play PSG.
And, while Wenger is happy that Gnabry has developed into the player he believed he could become, he says he’s sad that it was not at the Emirates.
‘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.
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‘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.
‘But he has matured a lot and he is one of the dominant players now in Germany.
‘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.
‘We worked with him very hard for six months and he went out with the German national team under-21s. Bayern made a deal with Bremen and in the end he didn’t want to extend the contract [at Arsenal].
‘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.’
