A former Gunner could stand in the way of Frank Lampard and Chelsea’s Champions League dream.
Chelsea and Bayern Munich will go head-to-head in an intriguing battle in the Champions League tonight, and they’ll have former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry ready to down the Blues.
Back in October, Gnabry collected the match ball after a stunning performance against Spurs in Bayern Munich’s 7-2 win.
The German international scored an impressive four times in London, demolishing his old side’s rivals.
And on reflecting, that would’ve left Gunners supporters wondering what could’ve been had he stayed at the Emirates.
Since Gnabry, 24, has returned to Germany following an in-different time in English football he has gone on to fulfil the potential that prompted Arsene Wenger to bring him to our shores back in 2011.
Internationally, he’s bagged an incredible 13 goals in as many games and his career seems to finally be taking off like many thought it would.
RUN AND JUMP
Born in 1995 in Stuttgart to an Ivorian father and a German mother, Gnabry was a talented sprinter at youth level.
He had the opportunity to pursue a career in track and field, but opted to go with football after VFB Stuttgart took him on as an 11-year-old.
Blessed with pace and strength, it wasn’t long before Gnabry caught Wenger’s eye, who identified the winger as one of the future.
A key member of Stuttgart’s Under-16 side that won the Nike Cup in 2010, he picked up the player of the tournament award and scored 30 goals in his final season at the club at youth level.
That same year Arsenal rushed through a bargain 100,000 deal to bring the talented starlet to England, but had to wait till he turned 16 in 2011 to officially sign him.
OFF TO A FLYER
Gnabry played for the Under-18s for the majority of the 2011-12 season, but was promoted to the reserves after some impressive performances.
Then, after just one season in the academy, he was given his first team bow – against Coventry in the League Cup in 2012.
Debuts in the Premier League and Champions League followed, and he became Arsenal’s second-youngest player to appear in the top flight after Jack Wilshere.
But it was in the 2013-14 season that Gnabry really announced himself on the scene.
In a January FA Cup tie against the old enemy Tottenham, Gnabry was a surprise starter in Wenger’s first eleven – starting ahead of seasoned German internationals Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski.
After coming close to opening the scoring, he set-up a goal for Santi Cazorla with a perfectly-weighted pass and troubled the Spurs defence consistently during the 2-0 win.
Immediately, Arsenal fans were giddy with their prospect, as were the board who offered him a bumper five-year contract.
INJURY HELL
Sadly, a footballer is often met with challenges in his life. And this one caused Gnabry’s career to derail just as it was about to take off.
A serious knee injury meant he missed most of the 2014-15 campaign, and he was out of the game for a year.
With the emergence of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, Gnabry found himself frozen out of Wenger’s first eleven.
It was a frustrating time for Serge, who had showed such early promise that Mesut Ozil called him the best player he had ever played with.
In August 2015, he decided to go-to West Brom to gain valuable Premier League experience.
PUL THE OTHER ONE
Football has a habit of proving you wrong.
Gnabry played just three times for the Baggies, and it was clear as day that manager Tony Pulis didn’t fancy him.
“Serge has come [to West Brom] to play games but he just hasn’t been for me, at the moment, at that level to play the games,” Pulis said in a speech that has now become immortalised since Gnabry’s rapid rise.
“He’s come from academy football and not played much league football.
“Does academy football really prepare players for league football? And we’re talking about Premier League football here.
“As a manager you pick a team that’s going to win a game of football. You pick your best team, you don’t leave people out because you don’t like them, because of this, that and the other.”
I AM THE RESURRECTION
Gnabry returned to Arsenal a broken commodity, but it was still a surprise to many Gunners fans that he was sold to Werder Bremen for just 5m in 2016.
But a return to Germany was the making of the man – and he immediately hit the ground running in the Bundesliga.
In his single season at the club he scored 11 goals in 27 games as Werder Bremen finished eighth.
With Bayern Munich able to cherry-pick the best talent in Germany due to their financial clout, they signed Gnabry for a fee of just 7m in 2017.
He was quickly loaned out to Hoffenheim to work under the brilliant young manager Julian Nagelsmann, who gave Gnabry the confidence to play through the middle, as well as out wide.
Again, he scored double figures in a season – and rather than let Gnabry stay at Hoffenheim for another season, Bayern Munich decided he was ready for their first team.
And they weren’t wrong. Last season, Gnabry finished the club’s second leading goalscorer in the Bundesliga behind Robert Lewandowski.
He was also named as their supporters’ player of the year ahead of Joshua Kimmich and the Polish superstar.
GOING INTERNATIONAL
Gnabry has taken his club form on to the international scene, establishing himself as a regular for the German national side.
In 2019, he scored nine goals in just eight games – including a hat-trick last time out against Northern Ireland.
And manager Joachim Low has revealed that Gnabry will always feature under him.
He said: “He attacks the goal at speed, is good technically and moves around a lot between the lines.
“That makes him hard to pick up.”
It’s clear Chelsea’s defenders will have to be on their game if they are to stop Gnabry from ruining their night.
