Arsenal's Serge Gnabry Firing Warning to Arsene Wenger with Olympic Efforts

The name Serge Gnabry may not be too familiar right now to most Arsenal fans. But the young winger has set German hearts racing this summer as he has fired his team to an Olympic Games semi-final and the possibility of repeating their last triumph on Brazilian soil. 

Joachim Low's team took the 2014 World Cup with an imperious campaign, including that unforgettable 7-1 thrashing of the hosts in the semi-final before downing Argentina thanks to Mario Gotze's extra-time strike. There were signs at the Euros, however, that it is time for the nation to start renewing after falling short in France. 

The likes of Julian Draxler, Leroy Sane, Julian Brandt and Max Meyer, who has also been in fine form over the Games, will form part of that generational shift. And now Gnabry, on target in every single one of Germany's four Olympic matches so far, has to be considered as part of Low's future plans going into the Russia 2018 qualifiers and beyond. 

Born in Stuttgart to an Ivorian father and a German mother, the 21-year-old leads the Rio scoring charts with six strikes so far. His latest was a typical demonstration of his pace and precision bearing in from the left wing. Overlapping a narrow, static Portugal defence, Gnabry timed his run perfectly to break free before stroking the ball home with his right foot. 

Eugenio Savio/Associated Press

The goal on the stroke of half time opened the scoring, and shattered Portugal's resistance. Germany ran rampant in the second half with goals from Matthias Ginter, Davie Selke and Philipp Max to mark a 4-0 victory and set up a clash against dangerous Nigeria in the last-four. 

The African team have also been strong at the Games, winning no less than three of their four outings so far—the only defeat coming to Colombia in the final group game, with qualification already assured. But Germany, like Brazil, have only got better as Rio 2016 has progressed, and the prospect of adding Olympic gold to their world champions title is a tantalising one for the team coached by Horst Hrubech. 

Personally, too, success at the Olympics could prove a launching pad for Gnabry after seeing a positive start to his Arsenal career stall in recent seasons. 

"He showed them all today," Hrubesch told reporters (per the Daily Mail) after watching Gnabry hit the net in a group-stage draw against South Korea. "It annoys me that he has never been given enough trust at his club." The comments were a not-so subtle hint to the Gunners to stop overlooking one of Germany's finest young talents.

Arsene Wenger swooped for the then-VFB Stuttgart promise when he was just 15, back in 2010, completing the move on his 16th birthday. The rapid winger made a big impression with the Gunners' Under-18 side and soon earned promotion to the reserves, and at the tender age of 17 made his first-team bow in the League Cup. 

The following season the teenager appeared nine times in the Premier League for Arsenal, netting his first goal against Swansea City in September. But an injury sustained at the end of the 2014-15 campaign kept him out for almost a year, setting back his progress and pushing him far down the pecking order at the Emirates Stadium. 

A loan switch last season to West Bromwich Albion proved little short of a disaster, as Gnabry played just 90 minutes before his club recalled him in January 2016. This Olympic Games has been his first taste of regular top-level action for the best part of two years, and he is clearly revelling in the chance to show Wenger what he can do. 

The man himself is trying to keep focused solely on his national team exploits. 

"We stuck together as a team, our system worked very well against Portugal and I think we deserved to win," he said following the final whistle on Saturday, per UEFA.com.  "Our goal is obviously to win the whole tournament. We came here with this goal and hopefully we can carry on in the next game."

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Arsene Wenger, are you watching? Serge Gnabry is tearing it up at #Rio2016 https://t.co/mzddgBC3hU pic.twitter.com/UnIo4nQ3pl

— The Sun Football (@TheSunFootball) August 14, 2016"

Back in England, however, his displays have apparently made an impact with the right people. 

German daily Bild affirms that contract talks with Arsenal to renew his current deal, that expires in 2017, are already underway, although he has also attracted attention from the Bundesliga with Hertha Berlin interested in a move. His talents on the left wing in Rio have drawn comparisons with a young Thierry Henry, another relatively slow starter in the game, and a disappointing home defeat to start the Premier League season means Wenger will have to consider new blood in his team. 

Only two teams in football history have held both the World Cup and Olympic Games titles simultaneously. The all-conquering Uruguay team took both 1924 and 1928 gold, victories that are regarded in FIFA canon as precursors to the World Cup the Celeste lifted on home soil in 1930. 

Italy, back-to-back World Cup winners in 1934 and 1938, then succeeded at the infamous Berlin Games of 1936 to repeat Uruguay's triumph, but in the last 80 years no side has repeated the achievement. Germany will not have it easy, however; if they do manage to topple Nigeria, a Brazil team that have looked better and stronger with every game might just loom in the final, hungry for partial revenge following that 2014 humiliation. 

If they are to make history and take gold, though, Gnabry will almost certainly have to keep up his exhilarating form and finish the tournament with a bang. The Arsenal man has everything to play for, and having proved himself so comprehensively in Brazil deserves to be taken fully into consideration when he returns a better, more mature player to Wenger's Gunners squad.