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Arsenal have to Protect Serge Gnabry from Foreign Suitors
By Josh Sippie
Serge Gnabry may be an Arsenal player whose name gets lost among the masses of the Gunner’s young talents and emerging superstars – all of whom play the same position. When it comes to attacking midfielders and wingers, Arsenal have an entire army’s worth of names: Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
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Unfortunately for Serge Gnabry, on that list of names, he may very well be at the bottom. But the 19-year old is determined to return to the first team, which, at his tender young age, would be quite the feat, especially seeing as how he’s already made a first-team impact when he was the much tenderer age of 18.
In the 2013/14 season, Serge Gnabry burst onto the scene with a goal to top Swansea and put Arsenal in first in the Premier League. He continued to impress throughout the season and was nominated for the Golden Boy award, an award given to the best young talent in football. Perhaps even more of a testament to his talent, he was then given a 5-year contract extension (via Arsenal.com).
Clearly, the footballing world was ripe for the picking for young Serge Gnabry.
However, Serge Gnabry sustained a rather serious knee injury in March of 2014 and has been recovering ever since. Now a year and some change later, he’s finally back to full fitness and full training. According to the young German, he’s ready and absolutely chomping at the bit to get back into first team action.
“I came here with the dream to play for Arsenal’s first team and I did that before my injury. I’m hoping to get back to playing for the first team next season,” he said via the Express. Confidence is always a good thing, as we saw from Theo Walcott against West Brom, but it’s not going to be an easy feat for a young, still U-21 talent like Serge Gnabry to find first team action when the likes of Jack Wilshere can’t get playing time and the world-classed Aaron Ramsey can’t get playing time in his preferred position.
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That’s not to say it’s impossible though. Serge Gnabry played 462 Premier League minutes in 2013/14. He rocked out a solid 85% pass completion and tallied a key pass nearly once per ninety minutes. He wins 50% of his challenges, which from the wings is a pretty solid number (stats via Squawka). With the raw pace and technical ability that Serge Gnabry has, a little refinement is all that’s needed to turn this product into a machine.
It won’t even take that much refinement either. At just 19-years old, Serge Gnabry has already shown so much capability. There are so many teams across Europe that he would be starting for. Check out the following montage video of Serge Gnabry. Not only does he have the creativeness and ingenuity to create, but he can do the simple things. He can pass, he can challenge, he doesn’t try to be too much.
Hopefully you enjoyed the fantastic music along with the fantastic skill on display by young Mr. Gnabry.
Serge Gnabry’s most relevant comparison is to his very own team mated, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Both have incredible pace and technical ability, but they also have a physical brutishness that is an incredibly rare gift at the winger position.
Serge Gnabry is going to be a special player and with his contract extension, he’s going to be given every chance to be special at Arsenal. The only concern is the lack of opportunities he may find on such a crowded first-team roster. He’s taking the right approach, treating the preseason like an audition. He has a leg up on all the other young upstarts in the U-21 system in that he has already made a first-team impact. He’s already tasted the competition of the Premier League and surprisingly, he’s found it much to his liking with very little acclimation needed.
It won’t be long before the Real Madrid’s and Bayern Munich’s of the world come knocking at Serge Gnabry’s door. Arsenal have to do all they can to maintain him.
Next: Another season of underachievement for Arsenal?