Serge Gnabry has claimed Arsenal “badly wanted to keep him” before he moved to Werder Bremen for first-team football last summer.
The German forward, who marked his senior international debut with a hat-trick against San Marino in November, left the Emirates for Werder Bremen in August for £8m.
Gnabry impressed after making his Arsenal debut in 2012, but a serious knee injury curtailed his progress and last season’s loan move to West Brom yielded just one Premier League appearance.
Gnabry made just 18 first-team appearances for Arsenal during his three years at the club and the winger is in no doubt that he made the correct decision to leave the Emirates during the summer transfer window. But Gnabry also states mainly why he left the North London club despite the Gunners’ attempts to keep him.
“It was the right decision [to leave Arsenal]. Everybody who compares my development over the last four months to my time in England before that can’t come to a different conclusion. That was the main reason for the transfer – I wanted to get more playing time and it worked.” said the 21-year-old German wonder-kid
“Arsenal wanted to keep me, badly. But I had to look after my development. If a player does not perform well, a club has no sympathy and they do not want to keep him.” he further explained.
His performance’s this season for the Bundesliga outfit has been very impressive, netting five times and producing one assist in eleven appearances so far.