Arsenal: Gnabry And Campbell Departures Confusing
Arsenal are set to agree to the departure of Serge Gnabry to Werder Bremen after allowing Joel Campbell to leave on loan. Both deals are extremely confusing.
While much of the focus this summer from fans and pundits alike has been centred on the woes of Arsene Wenger’s futile attempts to bring players in, there have, in recent days, been two rather confusing and worrying Arsenal departures that have not been addressed with the same publicity.
Joel Campbell is well in the rear view mirror after he completed a season long loan-deal with Sporting Lisbon. It was a move that had been expected for some time. Wenger, for a reason difficult to find, was clearly not Campbell’s biggest supporter and consistently degraded his quality by selecting others ahead of him with seemingly less talent and less contribuition.
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Another talented attacking player is set to leave the Emirates, this time on a permanent basis, in Serge Gnabry. The young German is another winger who has struggled to forge a place in the starting lineup having departed on a series of loans throughout the past two seasons.
Nonetheless, his anticipated return to Arsenal was celebrated by fans and Wenger alike, and although another season out on loan was perhaps the highly likely outcome of the summer’s transfer activity, Gnabry’s future was heavily thought of, an exciting and enthralling prospect who will now enjoy his football away from North London.
Gnabry is expected to sign with Werder Bremen in a reported £7 millon deal and highlights a growing squad that simply cannot cope with increasing demands of the sheer numbers that Wenger has at his disposal. The issue comes in the type of deal, however.
With Joel Campbell, a loan deal is simply delaying the inevitable; he will leave Arsenal some point in the near future, it is simply a matter of the right club for the right price at the right time. Moreover, in Gnabry’s case, the issue is only compounded by his permanent departure. If he does develop into the star that many expect, then £7 million is an insignifcnt figure hardly worthe mentioning.
Allowing Gnabry to leave on a loan deal would have been the sensible move this summer. Arsenal then reap the long-term rewards of further improvement while also providing him with regular playing time. For a player of his prestigous talent, a loan deal simply made sense and it confusing as to why Wenger did not seek this path.
Earlier in the summer it was reported that Wenger wanted to sign Gnabry to a long-term contract before loaning him out. Perhaps then, it was the notions of unhappy player and provocativley thinking agent that engineered his departure. That is the only sensible reason I can give.
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