Friday, March 29, 2024

Serge Gnabry leaves Arsenal for Werder Bremen

Serge Gnabry has signed for Werder Bremen on a permanent basis in a deal believed to be worth around €6.5m

The move comes just days after Arsene Wenger insisted he wanted to keep the player in North London and extend the 21-year old’s contract – words that now seem rather pointed in the wake of his news.

The German burst onto the scene during the 2013-14 season and excited with some excellent performances from the right-hand side, before he picked up a serious knee injury.

He suffered complications from that and did not make a single club appearance during the 2014-15 season, although he did make the German U21 squad for the European Championships.

Last season he went to West Brom on loan but failed to convince Tony Pulis, making just one brief Premier League appearance before the deal was cut short and he returned to Arsenal to play for the U21 side.

He shone at this summer’s Olympics, winning a silver medal and finishing with 6 goals, and it seemed that with the departure of Joel Campbell there was some room being made in the squad for him.

However, it seems his reluctance to sign new terms with Arsenal have forced the club’s hand and they’ve now sanctioned this permanent deal with the Bundesliga side.

There was talk of Bayern Munich involvement in the deal, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. We will update as and when that becomes more clear though.

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Better be a big old buyback clause in there somewhere.

David C

especially since we’re letting him go for a measly 6.5 million…

Can’t figure out the Campbell loan deal either now.

OneBeatOff

Campbell wanted to leave …

BromleyGooner

He only wanted to leave because for whatever reason Wenger doesn’t rate him and didn’t even put him on the bench. Having known Gnabry was leaving too Wenger’s decision not to get Campbell involved is very odd. In terms of numbers we have gained Perez and lost Welbeck for a while. So effectively having lose Campbell and not having replaced him we are shorter on numbers that we were last year.

AlexisKoszil

The TV revenue really impacts our money.
Now we need to pay over the odds when we buy and sell under the odds.

That’s bad. Really bad.
I will miss Gnabry.

da Don

You can’t blame him.

Gunnerjoe

Why

Little Mozart

I can’t say I’m happy about this.

Lettra

Nothing to be happy about. The kid is a proper talent and a goal threat.

Gooner

I was starting to get worried about numbers but having thought about how many players we have who can actually play in the wide positions, we should be fine.

Alexis
Theo
Ox
Perez
Welbeck
Iwobi
Ramsey

PaulAndrew

Three of those are already out. After just three games. Imagine that list in another month. ..

TOGooner

That list doesn’t take into account injuries so I would imagine it would be the same. Gnabry is a talent but my issue with the attacking roster is more the lack of exceptional quality which wouldn’t change with Gnabry. But it’s good and our midfield talents will help tremendously. If Perez is a hit and Giroud finds form, we are more than good.
I am certainly hopeful this season.

Bis

Alexis – Agree, but also being tried as frontman
Theo – Inconsistent at best
Ox – Grossly underperforming
Perez – Unknown
Welbeck – Out for a big part of season
Iwobi – Still unproven, had just a good half season
Ramsey – Not a natural winger, he will play more at cental midfield

So basically. apart from Alexis, we don’t have a reliable wideman who is a default first choice….I’m not saying Gnabry is that guy, but I would have loved him to develop further under Arsenal and provide a fight for that spot…

Gooner

Ah, you’ve got me worried again.

oleg luzhny

Gnabry has hardly played for 2 years and is still unproven, not a full international.

Theo full international
Ox full international
Ramsay full international and good on the right eg v liverpool and countless others
Welbeck full international
Iwobi full international
And Perez, older head leave the new boy alone!!

Stillmatic

You say full international as it means anything these days.
Guys like Tom Cleverly and Henderson are well established internationals, whilst Arteta had none.

And as you’ve highlighted, Perez has none.

International caps mean squat diddly, it’s quality to win the league and CL that matters, and we only have 1 established winger that fits that description.

Zyrth

Pires was also left out in the France NT.

Spooner

I don’t think Gnabry is any more proven than Iwobi. Iwobi acquitted himself well in some massive games, including away at Barca, and established himself in the first team.

Whilst it’s disappointing about Serge let’s keep perspective; we’ve lost a good prospect not one of the first names on the team sheet.

BromleyGooner

If we had kept Campbell and lost Gnabry for decent money no one would be complaining. Sp*rs sold Mason who is garbage for 10 million we barely got half that for Gnabry (apparently)

YorkshireGooner

Sanchez is a world class wide forward.
Perez and Wellbeck are forwards who CAN play on the wing.
Ox and Theo are natural wide players, but both have proven unreliable and injury prone.
Iwobi is a strong prospect.
Ramsey is not effective on the wing.

Our lack of depth is painful. A team like Arsenal should not be relying on players playing out of position after two injuries/suspensions.

jo

everyone was flipping out about signing a cb and a forward, so we go and do that and it’s not even a week before people are back on here with “our lack of depth is painful”.

Lloyd Townsend

Ox grossly underperforming? Two games ago he was fantastic and scored a truly special goal, now apparently after one game in which he played well in the first half before a defensive lapse, he’s shit? Far out…

BromleyGooner

Friendlies mean nothing! When’s the last time he’s had a good run on games in which he’s played decently. Saying he is not underperforming having seen him play in the last couple of seasons is crazy!

jo

“Ramsey – Not a natural winger, he will play more at cental midfield”

maybe, but our central midfield is crowded.

Vivgooner

I rate Ox, Give him lots of gametime and he will kill it

PFo

1. Theo: still not good enough to be a starter at a club with ambitions of winning big things; a few good games at the start of the season doesn’t change that 2. Perez: should be used through the middle; Wenger and Perez have both said that’s his best position 3. Ramsey: ok out wide, but doesn’t like playing there, and he has neither the discipline nor the pace to be a natural in that position 4. Welbeck: out at least until New Year’s; Arsenal history in these matters suggests it will be longer That leaves three (three!) players for… Read more »

bittergreen

The Jeff is a first teamer.

SIMON

YES but your calculations are off….. Welbeck: massive bonus if he plays for us this seasons but once you add match fitness and little injuries that are common place after a long layoff you have to count him out for the season. then…. Perez is our 1 of only two options (realistic options) we have up front……which leaves for the wing positions: Alexis Theo (never last more than half a season) Ox (see above) Iwobi (currently injured….very promising but young and there fore should not be relied upon for consistency) Ramsey (currently injured) personally i didnt want to see Campbell… Read more »

SWgooner

Shitter.

Aedan

Makes sense for the player – I can see why he’d want a new start after that horrendous loan last year, but £6m really? That’s half a Ryan Mason

vnet

Surely Arsenal must have put in a big sell on clause like they did with carlos vela.

12th Man in the Clockend

€6mil is a joke!

Goonmantis

Why? For a player that has made one league appearance in 2 years and coukd leave for free next summer, it seems a fair price to me.

Joel

Have a feeling he’ll be like Douglas Costa/Coman once he gets to Bayern. Ridiculously low price for a 21 year old.

PFo

yep

Newxieland

Shame but not much you can do if they don’t want to sign a new contract.

I think the fact that we let his contact run down to the last 6 month kind of showed that we didn’t really want to keep him all that much…

Having both Walcott, Sanchez and Ox ahead of him consistent game time was always hard to come by.

Best of luck to the kid.

David M

Keep him, give him his chances. he is going to want to prove himself and try like hell to resign him during the season (even adding a release clause at a high value if necessary), through his chances, if not you loose him for free, is losing EU6Million that big a deal if he turns into a legit star, which he might? You could even consider selling in Jan if needed and you’d still probably get the same deal Too many teams are just so relucatant to let a players contract run through the final year even on guys with… Read more »

Stillmatic

You couldn’t really sell him in January, as he’d be free to sign a pre-contract by then, and almost certainly would.

Plus if established that he doesn’t want to stay, giving him playing opportunities has the effect of increasing his valuation and thus making it even less likely to keep him (see his exploits at Rio for similar effect), plus the addition of taking away playing time for more permanent players like Iwobi or Jeff.

PFo

“Plus…giving him playing opportunities has the effect of increasing his valuationg and thus making it even less likely to keep him.” Hmm, let’s think about this logically for a sec: we should sell someone because if he stayed he’d be even less likely to stay…less likely to stay than he is today, having been sold? Unlikely to stay is still more likely than zero likelihood to stay (our current position) is it not?? As for taking away from playing time, if he’s better than Iwobi and Jeff (no idea if he ultimately will be, but he’s at least more ready… Read more »

Joel Carter

He’s not really got Sanchez ahead of him. Sanchez plays predominantly on the left.

Xhakira

I know the manager had faith in him, but realistically he was never going to get a league start with the competition for the wing positions, and no chance of playing up front or displacing Özil.

gloryhunter

This sucks, but after all the money we spent i knew it was only a matter of time before we try to recoup some back

RosickyLegend7

Hopefully we inserted a cheeky buyback clause. Although can’t help but think he forced the move. I know Wenger will be disappointed by his decision.

shokim

Expected better of Gnabry, but such is football these days. Thought he’d come good, but just not with us.

I guess it’s better than letting him walk free when his contract is up.

PFo

Is it really?

Tommygun

Shame but understandable. I just really don’t understand why we let Campbell go out on loan if Gnabry is off. AW does seem more concerned about players’ feelings than he is about letting them stay and compete sometimes. Sure players will be unhappy but competition should drive improvement throughout the squad. I wish him all the best but just think we could have done a better job of keeping good young talent. He showed real promise at the Olympics at a time when he was fully recovered from injury. At the end of the day, he had one year left… Read more »

Stillmatic

He’s in his own rights to take the opportunity. He’s a german and is being offered a starting spot at Bremen and if he does well, if rumours are true, will go to Bayern next; a much bigger club than us. It’s a no brainer. I don’t understand why Arsenal fans are getting iffy about it. We’d love it if a player did that for us (as many have at Academy level). We’re quick to turn our backs on players, so don’t see why we should expect any different. If we were really confident in him, we would’ve offered him… Read more »

Theo Walcott's Potential

Any word on whether there’s a buy-back clause or not?

Marco

I’ll never understand why we let him go instead of a guy like Walcott… With the arrival of Perez we could have kept Gnabry in the pecking order behind Perez or simply sharing games with him 50/50 and could have shipped out Walcott. A move for now and the future. Keeping Walcott, even if it’s just a back-up to Perez, is not a good move.

Theo Walcott's Potential

You try shipping Walcott out with those wages.

Harish P

Mark my words, bar long-term injuries to him Theo shall be a rejuvenated player this season in part due to Xhaka’s long balls over the defence and Walcott’s runs.

I’ve not been a fan of his past season and would love to have seen him go, but the signs this season look good in my opinion.

karl

Don’t blame the player with so few appearances over the years for us. He is way down the order with Perez coming in also able to play wide. I think Wenger should be more brutal in cutting the playing staff that are peripheral, although the fee is very low. I guess the player intended to not sign a new contract and only has short while left on the old deal.

I have to say it is refreshing to see players going to probably a smaller wage because they want to play.

Arsenalfanman

Agents sniffing a massive payday means we’ve just lost a very promising talent.

Albioff

When a player wants to leave and refuses to renew his contract there’s nothing you can do…

PFo

Um, here’s an idea: make him see out the last year of his contract (all the while offering him a new one in case he changes his mind), instead of selling him for an absolutely paltry sum, relative to the club’s overall wealth. Obviously some players wouldn’t be worth the risk: just take the money. But given this kid’s huge potential, which Arsene has commented on many times, and given our need for proper cover on the flanks, the 6.5m euros isn’t worth it.

crapaud

Unfortunately this is the face of the modern game. Success increasingly seems to be measured by how much money is spent or paid for something or someone – and less emphasis is put on worth or achievement. Good luck to him but I cant help feel this is not the best choice he could have made.

mo974

stupid move. i watched him in the olympics final , the brazilian full back put him in his pocket. He is far from the finished article. A loan move would have been better or play a part in the team and do cup games and cameo in the pl to force his way into the starting eleven. I read that his own father was not happy about that move. the club has invested a lot in him what a way to reward the faith of the manager. Arsene is too kind. He should have blocked that move and send him… Read more »

Stillmatic

Find it funny how we as fans get pissed when younger players do something like this, yet we always cry out for MOAR WORLD CLASS PLAYERS as it it doesn’t have a negative effect on blocking young players. Or worse yet, we get happy when we poach a young player under similar circumstances (have a look at our academy).

Wolf

Not a stupid move IMO. Bremen are a well-run and decent club, where he will get plenty of opportunities to plat. They’ve just lost their star attacking midfielder Kruse to injury for a few months, so the door is wide open for Gnabry to get in there. I agree that he isn’t the world class player some people make him out to be (yet). Runs a lot, dribbles a lot, loses the ball a lot, makes questionable decisions a lot – so a bit like Ox or Walcott really. I really couldn’t see how he could get up the pecking… Read more »

Stillmatic

I think we as fans just need to accept that this is the cost of signing mature, world class players; they block the path of younger players and they want to leave.

Happens to the likes of Madrid and Bayern themselves. Can’t have it all.

Anteneh

Walcott should have been the one on his way not Serge.

TizTeezy

The details of this deal is rather confusing…

Whatever the case is, I hope we hav a good clauses inserted in the deal considering the low transfer fee

God is a DJ

Feck, I wasted all that time watching him in the Olympics wondering what he would be like for us this season.

Olivier Perez Combo

It would be a huge mistake if we dont insert clauses in this deal

PFo

I bet we haven’t. If anything, there’s talk of Bayern (fucking BAYERN!) having first refusal (or some such nonsense) on him next summer. When players angle for a move, Wenger almost always just washes his hands of them. Every once in a while I wish he’d decide to player hardball, for the sake of the club. We will be KICKING OURSELVES if we have an injury crisis in November on wide players/creative midfielders (no break clause for Jack’s loan??? wtf is that??????). It’s totally possible (it happened last year, for instance, when Ozil was pretty much our only creative player… Read more »

PFo

On Sunday, with 3 days left of the transfer window, we had a wonderfully strong and balanced squad (assuming Perez meets expectations) for the first time in years. All that needed doing was sending Chambers out on loan along with one or two of the youngsters, plus maybe selling Debuchy (depending on health of Jenkinson and suitabilty of Holding/Mustafi to cover RB). Easy. We could then sit back and relax. Instead, we’ve spent the last three days WEAKENING OUR SQUAD in an unnecessarily risky fashion. We should have played hardball with Gnabry and his despicable agents, make him stay or… Read more »

TizTeezy

Gnabry has been Gnabbed

Beagleboy

But no takers for Theo 🙁

Roger Ramjet

If nothing else his form over the summer got us a few extra quid.

Clockend lover

What’s all this crap about perez playing wide? We have brought him to play striker not wide left or right! Why do people instantly want to put round pegs in square holes? Does no one remember arshavin??

RightInDebuchy

What a fucking snake! We’ve stuck by him through all his injuries and fat spell and one good tournament he thinks he is the next Arjen Robben?!! Fuck that! I hope he never reaches his true potential like Fran Merida. Good Riddance!

Cork Gooner

OUT
Arteta
Rosicky
Flamini
Per (until Christmas)
Wellback (until Christmas)
Serge
Willshere
Campbell
Chambers
Debouchy

Does anybody else think we’re starting to seem light?

Chrispy

In the treatment room maybe, yes.

Jay Song

Hahaha nice one ??

AFC121

Isn’t this the “shipping out the deadwood” thing that some of our fans have been crying out for? Or perhaps showing “ruthlessness”?

Avdhoot

Had Pulis given him chance and he had preformed, Arsenal may had offered extension.. What’s point of letting player go on loan and they don’t play him enuf.

Blooming Freesia

6.5mill? Why don’t we just wrap him up in some nice giftwrap and tie a bow on it with Best regards Arsenal F.C

kinghenrythe14th

Gnabri seems to have joined the our Anti legends band of Nasri and RVP; we keep faith with them during injury periods, they ditch us 1st chance they get. Statue for Diaby?

GoonerSteve

Iwobi has softened the blow on this. But they’re better be a buy back clause!!!!!

Il not forget wenger “you either pay 42mil for ozil or you find them young like gnabry” he clearly rated him highly.

I guess the positives are hes not gone to bayern to haunt us in the champions league.
He’ll always have Arsenal in his heart.
Gives valuable game time to perez/iwobi/the ox

nigerian rex?

Only positive: bayern are irrelevant!

PFo

Posted this under the Zelalem article first, but it’s more appropriate here: 6.5 million euros?!!? What are we THINKING!!! He has a year left on his contract, which means we don’t HAVE to sell him! Obviously, we run the risk–quite high, but not dead certain–that we lose him next summer for free. But in the meantime, a) he might decide to sign a new contract after all, b) he might have a breakout year and be brilliant for us, or at least c) he at least would provide valuable cover on the flanks for when the inevitable injury crisis hits.… Read more »

indrossi

Can we get Carlos Vela / Ryo Miyaichi back? Or not. Either way.

Mark

5 million pounds is a very low amount in my opinion to get for him, hopefully we have a sell on clause where we’ll get a portion of the next sale. Wish he could have stayed, but really had little hope of getting into the squad. Looking at the depth on the wings after the Perez deal we have the following: Sanchez, Walcott, Chamberlin, Iwobi (when healthy), the Jeff and Perez when not at striker. In addition Ramsey can play wide as can Ozil (though neither is at their best there) in a pinch and we will be getting Welbeck… Read more »

Onuoha

Hope he has a buy Bach clause, 6M is too small for him, I understand has a year remaining in his contract

gooner

I look at this transfer in the same connection as the Campbell loan. contrary to what’s been reported, Serge wasn’t taken out of the first team by injury. The kid had a good run in the starting 11 when we were injury ridden and on a bad run. soon as Ox got fit, he was yanked off the team, despite the bad spell the Ox went through there after. The injury happened over a month later when he was nowhere near the bench When his Olympics coach hit out at Wemger for not trusting him more I quickly imagined it… Read more »

David Hillier's luggage

The winner here – Gnabry’s agent.

In all seriousness, even if we have a sell on clause I can’t see us getting much cash out of that given all the talk about Bayern effectively funding this move so as to gnab him next season.

Also, I doubt we have a Morata style fixed buyback clause, not really our style (although it probably should be).

xstopper

one day bayern will snatch him from them

Dave

Meanwhile Walcott is still here

Bacary's right leg

Iwobi imo is a better prospect. Excited for him. Goodluck to Gnabry.

santori

Testament to the competition in the squad at the moment especially in wide areas.

Sad to see him leave and wish him all the best, very talented player with plenty of potential.

Matt

Well i don t like these news at all. Hope Iwobi is back soon

richardanus

Sold the wrong player. Should’ve been Walcott. For £6.5M.

Dave

Should’ve been Walcott with us paying them 6.5M for taking him

Vonnie

The club doesn’t manage the youngsters properly when they get loaned out, he should never have been sent to Pulis and when it was obviously going so wrong he should have been brought back straight away, not left there to rot. Campbell and Gnabry have both asked to leave because it’s obvious to them that the manager prefers his favourites. I’m glad Wilshere is going to be loaned because he’s contributed next to nothing I can remember for about three seasons now. Oxlade-Chamberlain has an attention span of about thirty minutes and then gets worse and worse and Arsene doesn’t… Read more »

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