diff --git a/lib/manager/git-submodules/extract.ts b/lib/manager/git-submodules/extract.ts
index 7cdd9d9cbbfe40f30cc949ad0b926f63e5191f26..976c2bc0720726a12fb0b63da0e2ba896b421cc6 100644
--- a/lib/manager/git-submodules/extract.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/git-submodules/extract.ts
@@ -106,7 +106,8 @@ export default async function extractPackageFile(
         try {
           const [currentValue] = (await git.subModule(['status', path]))
             .trim()
-            .split(/[+\s]/);
+            .replace(/^[-+]/, '')
+            .split(/\s/);
           const subModuleUrl = await getUrl(git, gitModulesPath, name);
           const submoduleBranch = await getBranch(
             gitModulesPath,