Arsenal Transfer News: Arsene Wenger Dismisses Serge Gnabry Return Rumours

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has dismissed rumours the Gunners could recall midfielder Serge Gnabry from his loan with West Bromwich Albion in the wake of Theo Walcott's calf injury and the Baggies' reluctance to hand Gnabry regular Premier League minutes.

The 20-year-old has been relegated to the Baggies Under-21 team and club manager Tony Pulis has already indicated he's simply not good enough to play consistent Premier League minutes right now, leading to plenty of speculation the youngster could return to the Emirates before long, per the Independent's Jack De Menezes.

De Menezes claims Arsenal will hold talks with West Brom during the coming weeks to discuss whether it makes sense to prolong the loan deal, but as reported by Lloyd Webb of the Gunners' official website, Wenger says has no intention of bringing him back at this time:

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Serge Gnabry is on loan at West Brom for the season. I heard that Tony Pulis is not happy with him.

He has to change the opinion of Tony Pulis because I think that Serge Gnabry has the quality to play in the Premier League. He has shown that.

It’s good that he faces this kind of battle because it will make him stronger if the turns the opinion of Tony Pulis around. I hope that he’s facing the challenge and is putting the effort in.

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So far, Gnabry has played just 12 minutes of Premier League football with the Baggies, via WhoScored.com, and following the team's elimination from the Capital One Cup, it doesn't look like the attacking midfielder will find much playing time in other competitions.

To make matters worse, he was dropped from West Brom's senior squad altogether earlier this month, in a move that didn't please Arsenal fans, per the Birmingham Mail's Paul Suart and Joseph Chapman.

Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

Gnabry's struggles aren't an isolated incident, as the Gunners academy graduates are having a poor start to the 2015-16 campaign as a whole. Dan Crowley's loan with Barnsley didn't yield the expected results, and the youngster is already back with Arsenal, per Barnsley's official Twitter account. 

Meanwhile, Alex Iwobi, Glen Kamara, Krystian Bielik and Ismael Bennacer all featured in the Capital One Cup loss against Sheffield Wednesday, prompting even Wenger to admit his youngsters aren't good enough yet, per the Daily Mail's Neil Ashton.

Ashton believes it's a pattern and a clear sign the standards at Arsenal's academy have slipped in the past few years:

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The standards at Arsenal’s academy have dropped off since they won the FA Youth Cup in 2009, when a team that included the likes of Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin, Henri Lansbury and Emmanuel Frimpong beat Liverpool 6-2 over two legs.

Since the move to the Emirates Stadium in 2006, when the financial pressures on Wenger to finish in the top four were much greater, the club have neglected their academy system.

[...] At the end of the season there will be a re-think, with a new strategy put in place as Arsenal attempt to play catch up with some of the Premier League’s big-spending clubs.

Wenger highlighted the failure of academy coaching in this country during the last Premier League manager’s meeting in London, but it cannot be reasonably expected that Arsenal’s first-team manager can resolved the issues at Hale End.

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There's little doubt Arsenal's academy has fallen behind that of cross-town rivals Chelsea in the past couple of years, with the Blues winning three of the last four FA Youth Cups. Patrick Bamford seems to be in a similar situation as Gnabry, but contrary to Pulis, Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has been full of praise for his loanee, via the Eagles' official Twitter account:

The Blues' army of youngsters currently on loan with Eredivisie club Vitesse are also impressing, with Dominic Solanke and Isaiah Brown leading the way. Compared to Arsenal's youngsters currently out on loan, only Chuba Akpom—with Championship side Hull City—seems to be finding similar consistent success.

There's plenty of young, exciting talent in Arsenal's senior squad, however, and Crowley is widely expected to make the step up in the coming years. Gnabry has already shown his obvious quality, and as Wenger alluded to, having to battle for his spot with West Brom may not be a bad thing.

If the German works hard and does enough to impress Pulis, he'll see his playing time rise before long. And once Gnabry starts playing regularly, it will shine a whole different light on the production of Arsenal's academy.

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