Monday 28 November 2016 17:35, UK
Serge Gnabry has claimed Arsenal "badly wanted to keep him" before he moved to Werder Bremen for first-team football last summer.
The German forward, who marked his senior international debut with a hat-trick against San Marino in November, left the Emirates for Werder Bremen in August for £8m.
Gnabry impressed after making his Arsenal debut in 2012, but a serious knee injury curtailed his progress and last season's loan move to West Brom yielded just one Premier League appearance.
The 21-year-old already has five goals in 11 Bundesliga matches this campaign, and insists he made the correct decision to leave the Gunners.
He told Kicker: "It was the right decision [to leave Arsenal]. Everybody who compares my development over the last four months to my time in England before that can't come to a different conclusion.
"That was the main reason for the transfer - I wanted to get more playing time and it worked. Arsenal wanted to keep me, badly. But I had to look after my development.
"If a player does not perform well, a club has no sympathy and they do not want to keep him."
