One of Arsenal's greatest mistakes in the transfer market in recent years was arguably letting go of Serge Gnabry. The winger spent five years at the Emirates Stadium, but he made only 18 first-team appearances for the Gunners, and his time at the club ended with an unsuccessful loan spell at West Bromwich Albion.
Since then, Gnabry has won four Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich, a Champions League and a Club World Cup. He has established himself as a world-class talent, directly contributing to 110 goals in 179 appearances for the German club. Few people would have predicted Gnabry's success, and Arsenal's decision to sell him to Werder Bremen for a fee in the region of £8 million in 2016 has not aged well.
However, Gunners legend Martin Keown believes Arsenal could have their new Gnabry. Marquinhos impressed on his Arsenal debut, scoring in the Gunners' 2-1 win at FC Zurich in the Europa League on Thursday night. The teenager signed from Sao Paulo this summer and Arsenal fans got a first glimpse of the Brazilian during the victory in Switzerland.
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The 19-year-old finished emphatically to give the Gunners the lead after 16 minutes, with Eddie Nketiah bagging the other Arsenal goal. After shining on his debut, Keown believes Marquinhos has some similar attributes to the Bayern Munich star who Arsenal regretfully sold six years ago.
"Bukayo Saka is only a couple of years older himself, but such is the quality he’s going to get chances," Keown told BT Sport. "He looked a bit like a Gnabry-type player. He’s short, stocky, explosive pace.
"He looked very classy. He picked and chose his moments cleverly, whipped a couple of crosses in. Really good quality. He kept on producing.
"I think it’s great news. We’ve seen Saka, we’ve seen [Emile] Smith Rowe in this very competition start their careers. I think we’re seeing another star here in the making."
Bukayo Saka has been almost ever-present in the Arsenal starting line-up over the past few seasons and the emergence of Marquinhos may allow Arteta to finally give the young Englishman a break via rotation.
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