Tony Pulis shares Serge Gnabry verdict after West Brom saga
Tony Pulis has admitted he was left in disbelief by how good a career Serge Gnabry has had, after his disastrous loan switch to West Brom.
The German winger joined the ranks under Pulis in the summer of 2015 but failed to impress either Pulis or the Baggies fanbase, playing only three times and failing to score or assist while on loan from Arsenal.
Since then the now 28-year-old has gone from strength to strength, shining for Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and the German national team, but the former West Brom boss has lifted the lid on Gnabry’s time at the Hawthorns.
Speaking on the Express and Star Baggies Broadcast (5 September, 34:00) he said: “We brought him in and he got brought off in a reserve game after 30 or 35 minutes at the Albion, I think they played Aston Villa.
“I’ll give you a funny story, Arsenal sold him to Werder Bremen for about £5m and then he goes onto Bayern Munich and Kenty rang me up and said ‘Have you seen Gnabry at Bayern Munich? He’s scored’ and he said, ‘It can’t be him it must be his brother.’
“Some people say to me the best thing that could happen was him going to your place and not getting in the team because that winded him up. You don’t not pick your best players, if we had Gnabry playing like he was at Bayern Munich, you’d have him in the team week-in-week-out.”
Who’d have thought
There are few transfers as strange to look back on as Gnabry’s short time with West Brom as it is safe to say that nobody would have expected the German to go on to be a key man for Bayern and a regular in the German national side.
Pulis was well within his rights to not play the then Arsenal loanee, who he revealed also failed to impress most during his time at the Emirates which is why he was offloaded to Pulis in an attempt to find some form and realise his potential.
While many Baggies fans will be left wondering what they could have achieved should the Gnabry that is now lining up at the Allianz Arena had instead plied his trade at the Hawthorns, it doesn’t come across like he had much interest in being a success while on loan.
There can’t be many Champions League winners who would have struggled to play more than 35 minutes for the West Brom reserve side.
In other West Brom news, Tony Pulis has named Darren Fletcher as the best signing of his career