Gnabry resurgence proves the power of second chances

Whenever Tony Pulis is a trending topic, you can be sure that Serge Gnabry is the reason. So it proved again this week, when Gnabry’s two goals for Bayern Munich in a Champions League semi-final set into sharp relief the decision by Pulis, while in charge of West Bromwich Albion in 2015, to give the German just 12 minutes of game-time in five months. One appearance, as a substitute for Callum Mcmanaman, in a home defeat by Chelsea: this was all that an unabashed tracksuit manager thought his young winger was worth.

“Serge just hasn’t been, for me, at that level to play the games,” Pulis declared, so didactic in his judgment that he wrapped up one West Brom press conference in 31 seconds, while standing up. At the time, it was tempting to defer to his expertise, to believe that Gnabry’s background in the Arsenal academy rendered him too delicate for the proverbial wet Wednesday night at Stoke.

But in retrospect, the question is why anyone bothered listening. Mcmanaman, whose skills Pulis much preferred, was last glimpsed failing to renew his contract at Luton Town. Gnabry, by contrast, with 23 goals and 14 assists this season for Bayern, is poised to play in a Champions League final and complete a treble.

Naturally, it is easy to be wise after the event. A mercurial teenage talent who first made his name as a sprinter was never likely to flourish fully under Pulis, a manager famously fond of playing a back five. But the absolutism with which his abilities were dismissed points to a wider problem in the English game of failing to recognise what it has until it is gone.

Eric Maxim Choupomoting will face

Gnabry for Paris St-germain in Sunday’s final,

having highlighted his worth with a quarter-final winner against Atalanta. Two

Cameroon midfielder was considered excess baggage at Stoke, scoring only five times in a campaign that