Bayern Munich: Serge Gnabry can prove his worth in Coman’s absence

Bayern Munich forward Serge Gnabry has the perfect opportunity to prove himself with Kingsley Coman out for the next several months.

Bayern Munich kickstarted their 2018-19 Bundesliga campaign over the weekend with a 3-1 win over TSG Hoffenheim. Regardless of what the scoreline might suggest, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Bavarians. The hosts struggled to break down their opposition for much of the match, after losing their main attacking threat, Kingsley Coman, to a serious injury just before half-time.

Coman’s injury is not only a massive blow to the player himself, who spent the majority of last season’s ruckrunde sidelined with the same injury, but also a serious hit to Bayern as a greater unit. The German champions have only four true wingers in their ranks, and Coman is the best of the lot.

In Coman’s absence, fellow Frenchman Franck Ribery, his partner-in-crime Arjen Robben and young forward Serge Gnabry will have to bear the burden of providing an attacking threat from the flanks. James Rodriguez, Thomas Muller and Leon Goretzka will no doubt be asked to help on occasion, but none of those players provide the same width as the other trio.

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Any chance of Bayern making a last second swoop into the transfer market is off the table. After all, Coman should be fit by the start of 2019. By then, Alphonso Davies will also have made his move from MLS. Instead of panic-buying someone to fill in for three months, the Bayern higher-ups have decided to give 100 percent trust to their current corps of players.

If anyone benefits from this decision, it’s 23-year-old forward Serge Gnabry. Though he’s been on the Bayern payroll for a whole season already, this is Gnabry’s first real season in Bavaria. He spent the ’17-18 campaign on loan at Hoffenheim, where he was one of the best players in the Bundesliga.

He’s now returned to Bayern Munich looking to prove himself a truly elite player. With Kingsley Coman likely out for the rest of 2018, Gnabry has the perfect opportunity to show the club, its fans and the rest of Europe that he deserves his place on the Bayern roster.

But does he really have to prove himself? His stats throughout the past several seasons suggest otherwise.

After rising through Stuttgart’s renown youth academy, Gnabry made the big leap over to Premier League side Arsenal.

He was always considered an exciting prospect at the North London club, but never made the transition to a real first-team candidate — perhaps mostly due to injury. Bundesliga side Werder Bremen swooped in and signed Gnabry in the summer of 2016, the same summer he helped lead Germany to an Olympic silver medal. He was joint top scorer at the tournament, despite being only 21-years-old.

His first season in the Bundesliga was exceptional and helped earn him a move to Bayern Munich just a year after signing with Bremen. But he didn’t immediately settle into the Bavarian first team. He was instead sent out on loan to Hoffenheim.

Initially, injuries kept him from becoming an important part of Julian Nagelsmann’s side, but he eventually got his feet planted and continued right where he had left off in his previous Bundesliga season. Gnabry ended last season as one of the league’s top players, scoring 10 goals and assisting 5 more in 22 Bundesliga appearances.

Despite all this, there are still some who doubt that Gnabry has what it takes to succeed in the Bavarian capital, his lack of numerical success with Arsenal deemed too off-putting. They doubt he has what it takes to cut it at a truly elite club.

And they may be right. Maybe Gnabry doesn’t have the quality to play for a top club like Bayern, even if his past two seasons and impressive preseason would suggest otherwise.

But maybe his two exceptional seasons in Germany’s top flight are indicative of a player destined for greater things.

Either way, we’ll soon know our answer. Without Kingsley Coman, Bayern Munich are down to three wingers, and two of them are well into their 30s. The next few months will provide Serge Gnabry the perfect opportunity to show he can play an important role for Die Roten and help lead the club into the future.