Serge Gnabry: Arsenal pair Mesut Ozil and Per Mertesacker convinced me to move to Werder Bremen

Done deal: Serge Gnabry signed for Bundesliga side Werder Bremen today
CARMEN JASPERSEN/EPA
James Benge31 August 2016

Serge Gnabry has revealed that Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil convinced him that Werder Bremen was the right club to move to on his departure from Arsenal.

The German youth international today completed a permanent move to the Bundesliga side, signing for a fee reported to be between £4 and £5million.

That represents a reasonable return for a player whose contract at Arsenal was due to expire at the end of the season, though Arsene Wenger had said on Friday that he wanted to keep Gnabry at the Emirates and would offer him a new contract.

However the lure of regular first-team football proved too strong for Gnabry, who found himself at the centre of a transfer tussle between several Bundesliga sides after his exploits at the Rio Olympics. The 21-year-old scored six goals for the eventual silver medallists.

Arsenal's summer 2016 transfer window timeline

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And Gnabry credited two former Werder players in the Arsenal side with convincing him that Bremen was the right move for him.

“I’m very happy to be here,” said Gnabry. “Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil have only said positive things about the club.

“I had very good talks with the management and that has led me here to Werder and the Bundesliga.

“The Olympics were a personal highlight for me and I’d like to carry on my development here at Werder.

“I’ve come to Bremen to get playing time, to develop further and to help the team.”

It had been rumoured earlier in the week that Bayern Munich would look to sign Gnabry and loan him to Werder but sporting director Frank Baumann insisted no other club has a stake in their new signing.

“Serge Gnabry is our player,” he said. “We have bought him.

“We’re proud to have convinced Gnabry to join. We don’t want to put too much pressure on him, we’ll give him time.”

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