Berlin (AFP) – Germany winger Serge Gnabry has extended his Bayern Munich contract until 2023, adding three more years to his deal, as the defending Bundesliga champions continue to rejuvenate their squad.
The 23-year-old is being groomed to replace Bayern’s ageing wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, who are both 35 and out of contract at the end of the season.
Gnabry, Canadian wunderkind Alphonso Davies, 18, and Frenchman Kingsley Coman, 22, are the next generation of Bayern wingers.
“We are happy that we at FC Bayern have tied ourselves to Serge for the long term,” said Bayern’s sports director Hasan Salihamidzic.
“He has taken a big step forward with us this year.”
Bayern paid Werder Bremen eight million euros ($9m) for Stuttgart-born Gnabry in 2017, but loaned him out to Hoffenheim last season, so this is his first year at Bayern.
Having scored eight goals in 29 games for Bayern, Gnabry, who can play on either wing, has been a key factor in slashing Dortmund’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga in recent weeks.
Defending champions Bayern have eroded Dortmund’s nine-point lead in December and draw level on 54 points last weekend with only a goal difference of just two separating the clubs.
“Sportingly, things are going very well for me personally right now,” Gnabry said, who spent five years at Arsenal from 2011 until 2016 having initially joined the Gunners’ academy.
“I know that I still have potential and need to develop further.”
Gnabry was part of the Germany team which won silver in the men’s football tournament at the 2016 Olympic Games.
He scored a hat-trick in an 8-0 thrashing of minnows San Marino on his senior international debut in November 2016 in the first of his five appearances for Germany.
