West Bromwich Albion might well have found themselves swamped in the Championship over the last couple of seasons, but the Baggies also used to be an established Premier League side that boasted some top talent.
Once upon a time, Romelu Lukaku lined up for the West Midlands outfit during a tremendous loan stint, as the Chelsea youngster announced himself to the English game at the Hawthorns with 17 goals fired home from 38 appearances.
Whilst the deadly Belgian was a major success story, other coups from West Brom’s recent Premier League hay-day didn’t quite go as to plan, as one Arsenal youth product struggled to ever spark into life for his new employers.
Gnabry's struggles at West Brom
West Brom won the services of a raw Serge Gnabry back in 2015 on a loan basis, with Arsene Wenger eager for his young Gunner to gain more first-team experience away from Arsenal at the Hawthorns.
In theory, this should have been a move that was formative for the growing German, but it ended up being a troubled spell away from North London, as Baggies boss Tony Pulis never took a shining to the exciting starlet.
Gnabry would very rarely be thrown in at the deep end of first-team action under the former Stoke manager’s guidance, with only three senior appearances coming his way during a stint the ex-Arsenal man won’t look back on with a single shred of fondness.
Pulis’ justification was that the now 27-year-old attacker wasn’t at ‘the level’ he wanted him to be at to then regularly thrust him into the main team spotlight, critiquing his U21 football education back at Arsenal in the process.
“Serge has come here to play games but he just hasn’t been for me, at the moment, at that level to play the games. 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.”
Pulis must be feeling rather foolish about his comments reflecting back now, with Gnabry’s transformation from his quiet Baggies days at Bayern Munich frightening.
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Gnabry at Bayern Munich
The Gunners ditch Gnabry not long after this disappointing loan move was over, with Werder Bremen winning his services for a low £5m fee.
It would be playing out in the Bundesliga where the explosive winger begun to shine, with Bayern acquiring his signature in 2018, where the 27-year-old continues to cause havoc from down the flanks to this day.
24/25
8
2
3
23/24
20
5
2
22/23
47
17
12
21/22
45
17
9
20/21
38
11
7
19/20
46
23
14
18/19
42
13
9
Gnabry is no longer the quiet starlet Pulis rashly dismissed, with the electric attacker now onto 88 goals and 56 assists for the Bavarian giants from 246 total clashes, as he continues to be named in the first team week in week out by new Bayern boss Vincent Kompany.
Rio Ferdinand even labelled the 27-year-old as a “world-class” talent in 2020, another far-cry from the criticism Pulis dished out to Gnabry whilst he was still finding his feet in the senior game.
His continued excellence in the Bundesliga means his value has risen all the way up to £33m, according to Transfermarkt, with Bayern thanking their lucky stars that they picked up the ex-Arsenal man when they did for just £6.7m, before he had fully blossomed.
West Brom won’t be the last club to make a blunder like this – when it comes to not getting the best out of a player that goes on to reach new unbelievable heights – with the Baggies’ main focus in the present centring on winning promotion back up to the Premier League, to return to the top-flight for the first time since the 2020/21 season.
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