The last few years have seen Arsenal rise from a side stuck in mid-table purgatory to one now in their third Premier League title race in as many seasons.
Mikel Arteta has utterly rejuvenated the club, and while much of that is down to his tactics and philosophy, recruitment and the promotion of youth have been just as important.
For example, the likes of Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, and even Kai Havertz have become incredibly important to the first team, while Bukayo Saka has become the poster boy for the whole project.
However, had the club not sold another youngster eight years ago, the Spaniard would have another world-beater in his side, a talent who’s been compared to Saka and even Jamal Musiala.
Arsenal's notable exits in 2016
Now, before we get to the talent in question, there was another notable player who left Arsenal in the summer of 2016, Arteta himself.
Yes, the Gunners’ current, potentially era-defining, manager finally hung up his boots at the end of the 15/16 season, following five successful years as a player for London’s premier club.
In those six seasons, the San Sebastian-born leader made 150 appearances for the first team, scoring 16 goals, providing eight assists, and winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields.
Appearances
150
Starts
131
Points per Game
2.06
Goals
16
Assists
8
Goal Involvements per Match
0.16
FA Cups
2
Community Shields
2
However, perhaps the most significant indicator of his future career path was the fact that Arsène Wenger named him the club’s permanent captain in the summer of 2014, just a couple of months after he led the team to FA Cup glory against Hull City, which also ended their eight-year trophy drought.
Playing primarily in central and defensive midfield during his time, the 42-year-old was never the flashiest of players.
However, just like today, his commitment was never up for debate, and occasionally, he was still capable of the extraordinary, as exemplified by his goal against Manchester City in April 2012.
In all, Arteta was a well-liked and respected servant when he finally hung up his boots eight years ago, and as such, he was one of the most notable exits from the club at the time – after he scored another screamer, of course.
However, another sale went a little more under the radar at the time, a sale the club must now regret making, as the player in question has since thrived and won comparisons to attacking stars like Saka and Musiala.
The sale Arsenal must regret
So, while a few other players left the Emirates that summer, including Wellington Silva, Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere, on loan, the one that Arsenal must regret to this very day is surely Serge Gnabry.
Yes, before he was tearing it up for Bayern Munich, and after a dreadful loan spell with West Bromwich Albion, in which Tony Pulis deemed him not good enough, the German winger was sold to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen in the summer of 2016 for a fee said to be as low as just £5m.
Since then, the player talent scout Jacek Kulig, once dubbed a “future legend”, has produced 13 goal involvements in 27 games for Bremen, 17 in 26 for TSG Hoffenheim, 145 in 255 for Bayern and 31 in 49 games for the German national team.
Team
Bremen
Hoffenheim
Bayern
Appearances
27
26
255
Goals
11
10
88
Assists
2
7
57
Goal Involvements per Match
0.48
0.65
0.56
In short, the former Gooner has gone on to become one of the most dangerous attackers in world football and has, at various points in his career, more than justified the “world-class” tag given to him by former Manchester United and England star Rio Ferdinand.
On top of his incredible career being reason enough to regret selling him all those years ago, the 29-year-old has also recently won comparisons to the sensationally gifted Saka and Musiala.
The comparisons stem from FBref, which compares players in similar positions in Europe’s top five leagues, the Champions League and Europa League then creates a list of the ten most comparable players for each one, and in this instance, has concluded that the German is the seventh most similar forward to his compatriot over the last 365 days, while the Englishman is the ninth most similar.
We can see how this conclusion was reached by examining the underlying metrics in which the trio rank closely, which for all three of them seem to be non-penalty expected goals plus assists and shots per goal, both per 90.
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
0.84
0.70
0.73
Goals per Shot
0.11
0.10
0.16
Goals
0.36
0.42
0.69
Shots
3.46
3.38
4.23
Successful Take-On %
42.1%
41.4%
51.6%
Passing Accuracy
81.9%
75.5%
83.3%
Live Passes
50.4
32.2
46.9
However, the Bayern ace also ranks closely with the Gunners’ number seven in metrics like goals, shots and successful take-on percentage, and his own teammate in metrics like passing accuracy and live passes, all per 90.
Ultimately, while it’s notoriously difficult to predict the trajectory of a young footballer, it’s clear that Arsenal got it very wrong when they sold Gnabry for such a small fee in 2016, and while they now have a team bursting with talent, he’d still be an incredible squad player.
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