POWER SERGE

IGNORED BY WEST BROM, FRUSTRATED AT ARSENAL… ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT AT BAYERN MUNICH. EVEN IF GERMANY HEAD INTO EURO 2020 WITH SLIM HOPES OF SUCCESS, STAR MAN SERGE GNABRY GIVES THEM AN EDGE – AND HIS STUNNING ASCENT TO THE TOP ISN’T OVER YET

- Greg Lea

When Germany named their squad for Euro 2016, Serge Gnabry wasn’t exactly hanging by the telephone.

After all, the winger had made just one Premier League appearance in the 2015-16 season: loaned out to West Bromwich Albion by parent club Arsenal, Gnabry couldn’t get in a team that spent most of the campaign bouncing between 12th and 15th place. Tony Pulis claimed he wasn’t “at that level” required to play for the battling Baggies, and chose to field Craig Gardner or James Morrison out wide instead. Across five months, Gnabry played 12 league minutes. Representing his country was the last thing on his mind.

Fast-forward five years to the following European Championship, and things are just a tad different now. Gnabry looks well-positioned to be among the stars of Euro 2020, having soared to new heights since those peculiar struggles at The Hawthorns. A European champion with Bayern Munich at club level, Gnabry now seeks the equivalent prize with Germany.

To say that their last major tournament appearance didn’t go well, however, is akin to saying COVID-19 has been a slight inconvenience. Joachim Löw’s side went out in the 2018 World Cup’s group stage – the first time since 1938 that Germany, ”Europe’s most successful nation had failed to advance beyond the first phase of world football’s biggest competition.

He has quickly become Germany's main hope of silverware this summer