Chelsea are considering making a move for Bayern Munich winger Serge Gnabry, football.
The 26-year-old has less than 12 months remaining on his contract with the German champions, and the Blues are looking into the possibility of a cut-price deal.
Raphinha looks set to complete a move to Barcelona very soon after the La Liga club matched Chelsea’s offer.
Thomas Tuchel will now have to turn his attention elsewhere, and fellow countryman Gnabry is definitely an option.
Gnabry has been in Munich since signing for £7.2million in July 2017 from Werder Bremen.
Arsenal brought in the winger in 2011 after being signed from VfB Stuttgart’s academy system.
The Gunners paid £100,000 for his services and put Gnabry straight into their Under-18s team, but he was quickly promoted to their reserve set-up.
The German wide man then made his first-team debut for Arsenal in 2012 and impressed when doing so.
This saw Arsene Wenger hand him a number of opportunities with the senior squad for the remainder of the 2012/13 campaign.
Despite his undeniable talent, Gnabry was never able to establish himself as a key player with the north Londoners.
He was sent out on loan to West Bromwich Albion for the 2015/16 season but was not given much opportunity to prove himself at the Hawthorns.
Werder Bremen came calling the following summer, and he returned to Germany.
Ever since, he’s become one of the Bundesliga’s most exciting attacking players – leaving former Arsenal boss Wenger with some regret.
“Speaking to beIN Sports in 2020, Wenger said:”Let’s not forget Gnabry.
I bought him at the age of 15 from Stuttgart, and he was injured a lot.
“He’s creative, he can score goals, right-footed, left-footed, good power, good penetration, very, very clever with the timing of his runs. His tendency was a bit too easy like I’ve told you with these young talented players, but he has matured a lot and is now one of the dominant players in Germany.”
“He added:”I had given him out on loan to West Brom, and he didn’t play a game.
We worked very hard with him for six months, and he went out with the German national team, Under-21s, and Bayern made a deal with Werder Bremen.
“He wanted to sign, in the end, didn’t want to extend his contract , and I was very sad. But we couldn’t get over the line with him because I knew he would have a great career.”