Gnabry signs first professional contract

Highly rated youngster Serge Gnabry has signed professional terms with Arsenal today. He arrived at the club last summer from German club Stuttgart and he enjoyed a promising first season at the club, scoring twice for the reserve team in six appearances, as well as scoring six goals in eight games for the under 18s. This contract is a reward for the progress he has made in the past year at the club and shows signs that Arsene Wenger rates him highly. Perhaps we will be seeing more of him this year in the first-team.

Think, Cesc Fabregas was about 17 when he burst onto the scene in 2004. He had made appearances in the League Cup in 2003/04, but it was 2004/05 that Fabregas showed everyone what he was capable of. Gnabry has earned rave reviews from people that have watched him regularly at reserve and youth level. If he is as good as people say he is, then he will be someone to watch out for in the future.

Of course, for every Cesc Fabregas you will get an Arturo Lupoli. Lupoli showed bags of promise at reserve team level and even when he played in the League Cup. He left Arsenal to return to Italy with Fiorentina. He didn’t get a game there and has since had loan spells at Sheffield United and Norwich (when they were in the lower divisions). He has since found himself in the second division of Italian football. My point here is, that there are players that do shine at reserve team level and then fail to make it in the first-team. Jeremie Aliadiere, Nicklas Bendtner, David Bentley and Jermaine Pennant come screaming out at me right off the top of my head. But then you get stars like Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny who prove that there is still a chance that you can shine at youth level and become solid / exceptional players.

Whatever Gnabry becomes, I am looking forward to seeing more of him in the not too distant future.