As Thomas Tuchel tries to resolve Chelsea’s attacking woes, a potential Bundesliga option could offer a chance to repeat an iconic transfer.
Cards on the table, I love watching Serge Gnabry play football.
It was late August of 2015, and I was standing at The Hawthorns’ away end. Jose Mourinho’s 10-man Chelsea was clinging onto a 3-2 lead in the final moments, and Tony Pulis introduced an unorthodox talent to the fray.
Only days after arriving on loan from Arsenal, Gnabry quickly showed his talent in half a second of genius. Picking up the ball in a congested area and magically pirouetting around Cesc Fabregas’s challenge to excite the home crowd. We will get back to the connection between those two.
A sadly small glimpse of inspiration from Gnabry did not come to foreshadow a brilliant loan, rather one that set him back until his £4m sale to Werder Bremen 12 months later.
That move back to this home nation allowed the space to put previous injuries behind him, and within 12 months, Bayern Munich had come calling for a £7m deal before being sent on loan to Hoffenheim.
The path was set for Gnabry to fulfil his potential and jump forward five years, and the now 26-year-old is recognised as established top-class talent. Netting 58 goals in 152 appearances for Bayern has made him a wide player with a consistent goal threat.
This season he has found the net 11 times for Julian Nagelsmann’s free-scoring outfit, breaking down as nine in 19 Bundesliga games and two in four Champions League group games. His tally is better than any of Chelsea’s current attackers, the highest being Jorginho (all from pens), second Romelu Lukaku.
Thomas Tuchel expressed frustration about his current attacking woes after the demoralising 1-0 defeat to title rivals Manchester City last Saturday.
“We had not enough chances for the ball wins, the movements, the opportunities that we could have had. We could have had many more chances if we had played with better timing and precision. It is simply like this.
“The performance in the first half in the opponents’ half, we had eight or nine transition chances, and out of them, we didn’t have a touch in the box. That’s what I’m critical about.”
Chelsea fans are already debating potential solutions in the summer on how Tuchel and the club can best resolve the attacking issues to inject a more consistent end product to an attack containing over £300m worth of talent bought since 2019.
Gnabry’s current future at The Allianz remains unresolved with his contract as German outlet Bild reported that the winger’s representatives are demanding £12.5m-a-year in wages to sign a new contract. Still, Bayern have yet to agree to these terms, which has put talks currently on hold.
At a prime age, any chance to potentially lure him away from Bayern would be an irresistible deal, even if it meant Chelsea has to part ways with some of their current attackers.
Coming back to Fabregas, a dream deal for Gnabry would bring back visions to Arsenal supporters from the summer of 2014. The former Gunners skipper joined Jose Mourinho’s title-chasing Blues after Wenger had infamously passed up on a choice to resign his former star.
Fabregas filled a missing piece in Mourinho’s title jigsaw, connecting sublimely with other summer signing Diego Costa to propel Chelsea to their fourth Premier League title.
The Spaniard became beloved at Chelsea, inspiring one of the best chants of the last decade and wonderfully chipping Petr Cech to score against Arsenal in 2017 to round off an emphatic victory.
A brief statistical comparison shows Gnabry excels compared to Chelsea’s current wide players.
Excelling in goals per 90, shots per 90, goal conversation %, touches in the box per 90 and key passes per 90 via WyScout. Gnabry is already in his prime and past the awkward developing stage that Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi are still going through.
Stamford Bridge got a first-hand taste of how ruthless Gnabry can be inside the box when he scored two goals in the emphatic 3-0 first-leg victory for Bayern in February 2020. Chelsea’s attack needs to get away from such uncertainty and underperformance, especially if they have any hopes of overthrowing Manchester City’s Premier League dominance.
Gnabry is an outstanding attacking player, and it would be a dream come true if he ever arrived in west London.
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