Arsene Wenger reveals Serge Gnabry 'problem' he identified at Arsenal
Arsene Wenger identified a "problem" with Serge Gnabry's application before the youngster left Arsenal for Werder Bremen in 2016.
Gnabry, who starred for Bayern Munich as they pushed Chelsea to the brink of Champions League elimination on Tuesday night, spent five years with the Gunners, signing his first professional contract in 2012.
His impressive performances for Bayern have prompted questions about Arsenal's failure to prevent him slipping through the net following a disappointing loan spell at West Brom four years ago.
Gnabry spent the following summer with Germany's Under-21s and Wenger fully expected him to put pen to paper on a new deal in north London, but found his head had been turned by interest from the Bundesliga.
The Frenchman was full of praise for his former charge, but questioned his attitude when it came to putting in the hard graft to complement his abundant natural talent.
"This guy, he has no real limitations - it’s more how much does he want to suffer," Wenger told Bein Sports.
"Because he has pace, power, technical ability - he’s very intelligent.
"Sometimes he looks for the easy way in football. That’s what was his problem.
"He lacked a bit. I gave him to West Brom, it didn’t work out at all. In fairness I think we had an agreement with him but Bayern stole him away from Werder Bremen.
"He’s a good player, he needs good players of course, like everybody, but he has individual ability and collective ability.
"We had an agreement with him but because he didn’t play at West Brom I let him go with the Under-21s in the summer with the German national team.
"He did very well of course, he was fresh. We had prepared him for us to sign his new contract but then suddenly he wanted to go to Werder Bremen."
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