Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry picks his Ultimate XI — and there’s one huge omission

Amid the World Cup tension, a little bit of fun. Bayern Munich and Germany star winger Serge Gnabry was asked to select an XI of the top players he’s ever played with. The 27-year-old is a full Germany international and has spent time at clubs the likes of Arsenal FC and FC Bayern, so naturally, competitions for places are pretty fierce. Here’s who he came up with:

• Striker: Robert Lewandowski
• Wings: Leroy Sané, Kingsley Coman
• No. 10: Mesut Özil
• Midfield: Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka
• Defense: Alphonso Davies, David Alaba, Per Mertesacker, Hector Bellerín
• GK: Manuel Neuer

What, no love for Thomas Müller? Well, we did warn that the competition was fierce! Özil, like FC Barcelona’s Bellerín, was a good friend and teammate from Gnabry’s Arsenal days — and one of the finest tens the world had ever seen, in his day.

There’s another connection there, too. When Özil made his Ultimate XI for Arsenal’s social media channel in 2015, he tapped then-teammate Gnabry at his own No. 10 position:

“At No. 10: Serge Gnabry,” the former German international said. “Because he’s sitting right here!”

(Gnabry would spend that season on loan at West Brom and make one league appearance — still a little ways away from tearing up the Bundesliga for Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim before arriving at Bayern in 2018.)

As much as we love our Raumdeuter here at BFW, we can’t take any issues with Gnabry’s list — which firstly is just for fun, and secondly, again, had no space for all the stars Gnabry has crossed paths with.