Arsene Wenger pays tribute to Serge Gnabry's quality: He can be a number 9, a number 10

Arsenal brought Gnabry in from Stuttgart at the age of 15 and the youngster threatened to become a regular a few years later but a string of injuries and an unsuccessful loan spell put paid to that.

Arsene Wenger admits harboring regrets over the German's exit but is not surprised by Gnabry making it, citing his many top qualities.

"Gnabry, I bought him at the age of 15 from Stuttgart and he was injured a lot," Arsene Wenger told BeIN Sports after Serge's brace in the Champions League.

"He's creative, he can score goals, right-footed, left-footed, good power, good penetration, very, very clever with the timing of his runs. He can be a number nine, a number 10...he's a very intelligent player."

"His tendency was a bit too easy, like I've told you about with these young talented players, but he has matured a lot and is now one of the dominant players in Germany."

The winger was sold to Werder Bremen for a mere £5m in 2016 after failing to agree a deal with Arsenal and Wenger admits regretting the way it went down.

"I had given him out on loan to West Brom and he didn't play a game. He came back, he was injured. We worked very hard with him for six months and he went out with the German national team, under-21's, and Bayern made a deal with Werder Bremen.

"He wanted to sign [with them] in the end, didn't want to extend his contract (with Arsenal) and I was very sad. But we couldn't get over the line with him."

Serge can surely be filed under the 'ones that got away' category but that's life. It just didn't happen for him at Arsenal. We wouldn't read too much into his loan spell at West Brom - whose idea was this to send him to a Tony Pulis side anyway?

Those things do happen to other clubs though, it's not like Arsenal are unique. Think about Mo Salah or Kevin De Bruyne at Chelsea and after that. We can only wish Serge to continue lighting it up in Germany.