Granit Xhaka - the wasted years

Another extremely impressive performance by Xhaka as Switzerland progressed to the Quarter Finals. Our former captain, of course, has come off an incredible domestic season for Leverkusen, with the domestic invincible double.

He came to Arsenal in 2016 as a replacement in CM for Santi Cazorla, who was fighting a career threatening injury. Xhaka partnered Francis Coquelin for the majority of his first season, and had a pretty good first season. It was blighted by two very harsh Jon Moss red cards - as his reputation from Germany seemed to sway the inept official. During the season, Arsene Wenger began to lose faith in Coquelin and saw the ball playing ability of Xhaka as a better fit for DM. This despite Wenger publicly stating Xhaka shouldn't tackle. It was a decision that perhaps robbed Arsenal of Xhaka at his best for the next 6 years!

Xhaka ended his first season at Arsenal with an FA Cup medal - beating Chelsea 2-1. It was, though, also the first of many seasons Arsenal missed out on CL football, finishing 5th despite 73 points won.

With Cazorla missing and Coquelin dropped, Xhaka started 37 of the 38 PL games in 17/18, with a number of different partners - Ramsey, Wilshere, Elneny all getting significant minutes in the middle. During the season Xhaka wore the Arsenal captains armband for the first time, in a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.

Arsenal were changing though. A second consecutive season outside the top 4 and the departure of Arsene Wenger. Alexis Sanchez had left midway through the season and Xhaka was one of many criticised for his performances.

The arrival of Unai Emery for the 18/19 season also brought in the introduction of Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi. Xhaka's place in the team was under threat, but there was also suddenly a DM in the squad who could free Xhaka to play a more natural advanced role. The Emery era started very well (well, after 2 defeats in the first two games). Arsenal went on a 14 game unbeaten run and were playing football that had the crowd chanting "we've got our Arsenal back". Injury issues marred the second half of the season for Xhaka, and Arsenal missed out on top 4 and were hammered in the Europa final.

Things really turned sour in 19/20 - despite starting with Xhaka being named as new Arsenal captain. With Arsenal struggling for wins, Emery was under enormous pressure. Torreira had been dropped, with Xhaka back in the DM role alongside players like Guendouzi, Ceballos and Willock. The fans took their anger out on Xhaka, and during a poor team performance at home to Crystal Palace Emery chose to sub Xhaka off. Xhaka, not too happy with the decision, very slowly reacted - at a time Arsenal were chasing the win. This infuriated the crowd and the captain was loudly booed and abused. Xhaka reacted in the worst possible way, swearing at the crowd, making hand signals and then throwing his Arsenal shirt to the ground. It seemed the end for Xhaka at Arsenal. The captaincy was stripped from him and he was dropped from the squad.

Emery didn't last long after that, and in came Mikel Arteta. Playing a more pragmatic style of football, Arteta reestablished Xhaka into a key player. Xhaka once more won an FA Cup, again beating Chelsea 2-1 in the final.

Everybody expected Xhaka to leave that summer, but come 20/21 Xhaka was still a mainstay in the Arsenal starting XI. However, the team performance wasn't good and Xhaka was once again struggling in a DM role. Things came to a head in a game against Burnley, and a loss of temper caused by frustration saw Xhaka sent off for the first time in 4 years. On the plus side, Thomas Partey had come in and replaced Torreira, however Partey was injured for most of that first season and Arsenal finished 8th.

A rebuild was slowing happening around Xhaka, but despite fans moans, Xhaka remained a key man in the Arsenal XI. The 21/22 season, though, pushed patience to its limits as a bad start and the 4th red of his Arsenal career in the 3rd defeat in 3 opening PL games. A ligament injury then kept Xhaka out of most of the first half of the season. Arsenal recovered, and with Xhaka playing alongside Partey, Arsenal had a strong run in the league. A Partey injury at the end of the season contributed to Arsenal falling short of a return to CL football. However, there were promising signs and Xhaka was beginning to regain the trust of Arsenal fans.

A slight change in formation, bringing in an "inverted LB", Thomas Partey enjoying a largely injury free season, and Martin Odegaard establishing himself, the 22/23 season was by far the best we saw of Xhaka. Linking well with left sided attacker Martinelli, and having more freedom to get into the box, Xhaka scored 7 and got 7 assists as Arsenal put themselves into the title fight for the first time in nearly a decade. Although it ended not as we wanted, optimism was truly back at the club.

Then Xhaka decided to move on. A great personal decision, as he became a key figure in winning the Bundesliga for unfancied Leverkusen, taking the Pokal as well - losing the Europa final the only blemish on a near perfect season.

It is a shame it took us so long to unlock the true quality of Xhaka. So many years wasted struggling as a DM. He was only sent off 5 times for Arsenal - all straight red cards. The first 2 coming, harshly, in his first few months, the other 3 coming in a period where he was struggling mentally as Arsenal struggled as a club.
I don't believe Wenger bought Xhaka to be a DM, unfortunately we couldn't find anyone better for that role for so long. Xhaka showed his quality further forward in many international tournaments during his time at Arsenal, but it took us so long to unlock that at club level.

Arguably one of the best midfielders in World football at the moment, it is a shame we only truly saw that in Xhakas final season as an Arsenal player.