Serge Gnabry has credited his time working with “top players” at Arsenal for making him the player he is today.

Gnabry left the Gunners this summer to sign for Werder Bremen after finishing as joint-top scorer at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and starred on his first senior international call-up for Germany with a debut hat-trick in the world champions’ 8-0 win against San Marino.

Bremen took to Twitter following Gnabry’s treble to poke fun at Arsenal for letting the 21-year-old go, but the midfielder says he owes Arsene Wenger and the north London club a debt of gratitude.

"Without being in England, I would not be the player I am now," he told RND radio. "There was Arsenal's quick playing style, for example, which I learned.

"When you are a young player and you get to train with such top players as there are at Arsenal for three years then of course you take something away with you and it improves you.

"That was definitely the case with me. I probably would not be here now if I had not been in England."

Gnabry is Bremen’s top Bundesliga scorer with four goals so far this season, but the youngster believed his international call-up from Joachim Low was a practical joke at first.

Arsenal star Mesut Ozil sports new Germany shirt 6 show all Arsenal star Mesut Ozil sports new Germany shirt 1/6 Mesut Ozil adidas 2/6 Mesut Ozil adidas 3/6 Mats Hummels adidas 4/6 Mats Hummels adidas 5/6 Ilkay Gundogan adidas 6/6 Ilkay Gundogan adidas 1/6 Mesut Ozil adidas 2/6 Mesut Ozil adidas 3/6 Mats Hummels adidas 4/6 Mats Hummels adidas 5/6 Ilkay Gundogan adidas 6/6 Ilkay Gundogan adidas

"The coach called me and I had to consider for a while whether it was real or not," he added.

"There have been a lot of these fake calls on the radio and I just didn't want to be the next victim!"

Gnabry finally convinced himself that he really was speaking to Low, and his 2018 World Cup qualifying hat-trick could earn him a second cap against Italy at the San Siro on Tuesday night.