After managing Arsenal for 22 years and winning numerous titles throughout that time, Arsène Wenger will always be remembered as one of the club’s greatest managers.
During his tenure in North London, the Frenchman won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, making the Gunners the most successful club in the history of the game.
Many of the club’s legendary players, like Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, were brought in by Wenger.
But innumerable players who would have enabled the now 72-year-old to experience greater success during his tenure at Highbury and the Emirates were lost to him.
In 2016, he also let the departure of an exceptionally talented young player from London, who is currently thriving and unquestionably one of the rising stars of European football.
The summer transfer window for Arsenal in 2016–17
As Wenger’s time in the capital came to an end, the fans were quite unhappy with him because they wanted the team to go back to the heights that the Frenchman had led them to.
He made significant additions to his roster in order to try to contend for the Premier League title in the 2016–17 campaign, including Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi, and Lucas Perez.
The trio came in slightly under £100 million for the club, but it’s reasonable to say that two of the acquisitions didn’t work out at the Emirates, costing the team a significant sum of money for very little return.
Mustafi and Perez both struggled to make an immediate impact and despite the club forking out over £50m on the aforementioned duo, they ultimately departed the club for a combined total of just £5m – a signal of the club’s poor business in the market.
Incomings were one issue, departures were another, with the club needing to offload some youngsters to allow them to gain valuable first-team minutes elsewhere.
However, they decided to permanently offload one star who has gone on to achieve massive things since his Arsenal exit during the summer of 2016, with his market value skyrocketing as a result.
Serge Gnabry’s market value after leaving Arsenal
After a failed loan stint to West Brom during the 2015/16 season, Arsenal decided to permanently replace offload winger Serge Gnabry to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen for just £5m – a deal that would undoubtedly come back to bite the Gunners.
Talent scout Jacek Kulig once called the now 29-year-old a “future legend.” The German player is currently a player at Bayern Munich, where he will hopefully become a European superstar.
With 247 games played, 88 goals, and a significant role in the German powerhouses’ Champions League victory during the 2019–20 campaign, Gnabry has had a significant impact for them.
He even scored four times in one game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur during the same campaign – still having an impact against their North London rivals years after his departure.
However, as a result of his stellar displays in Germany, the winger has seen a huge increase in value, with Gnabry now valued at £33m as per Transfermarkt, although that isn’t even his peak value.
His current worth has increased by about 560% over the amount the Gunners received for him, making Wenger’s choice to let go of the talent seem regrettable now that it has been eight years.
Given his miserable loan stint at West Brom, it was reasonable to decide to let him go; nonetheless, a different loan transfer might have sparked his bright future.
Arsenal has been left to regret the deal as a result of the acquisition, as his skills undoubtedly gave current manager Mikel Arteta access to another outstanding attacking talent in an attempt to snap the team’s two-decade league title drought.