The German youth international Serge Gnabry came to Arsenal with a huge reputation when he arrived from Stuttgart last summer and he settled quickly, scoring six goals in eight games for the U18's. He was quickly moved up to the reserves and made another six appearances which persuaded Arsene Wenger that he could rise just as rapidly to the Arsenal first team.
While other youngsters were left at home playing friendlies against local teams, Gnabry was pulled into the squad that went to Germany last week and made his first-team debut in the second half against Cologne.
He admitted that Arsene Wenger had told him that this was his chance to impress the manager. Gnabry said: “It has gone very well and I am enjoying being involved with the first team very much,”
“I am trying my best and working as hard as I can.
“This will give me an advantage because it is something different and I can learn a lot from the players. I wasn’t quite sure if I was going because I had some injury problems before. But when they finally told me I was going I was buzzing.
“It is a very big chance and I hope I take it. At the beginning I was a bit nervous but I settled down after some time. You just get into training, try your best and then learn a lot from the other players.”
Although Gnabry may just have tried a little too hard to impress in Germany, he is expecting that this will be his first stepping stone on the road to a first team spot, but realises that he still has a lot of work to do.
“The boss tells me that I have a good chance and I have to use it,” he said. “This season I hope to get some appearances in the Capital One Cup and even in the Premier League. I just have to try my best and hopefully train with them every day to develop myself.
“It was a huge step for me to join Arsenal initially but I was delighted. I am proud to be a Gunner and I am just trying to enjoy my time here at the Club.”
He has quite a few top-class strikers/midfielders to compete against right now, but at just 17 years of age he could be Arsenal’s next big thing. Arsene Wenger obviously thinks that he is going the right way…..
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