Granit Xhaka has been a huge talking point this week and unfortunately none of it has been positive, but is it too early to consider his purchase a mistake?
The Swiss midfielder got himself sent off for a two-footed lunge in the weekend’s 2-1 win over Burnley, and his actions so very nearly cost his side the win.
Alexis Sanchez scored a 97th minute stoppage time winner to seal all three points, but Xhaka’s sending off was completely unnecessary, and Wenger is known to be livid with his actions, which put his entire team in trouble.
The 24 year-old has now found himself badly represented by the press for supposed racist remarks at Heathrow Airport. He supposedly called a staff member a ‘f****** white b****’ after his brother-in-law to-be was refused entry onto a flight.
The player obviously denied the situation, although FC Monchengladbach’s Lekaj who was the person refused onto the flight, was not accused of any such actions.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Police were called at 19:29hrs on Monday, 23 January following an allegation that a member of staff had been racially abused at Heathrow Airport, Terminal Five.
“The allegation was made by a third party. Officers attended and spoke with a man in his 20s. He was not arrested.
“He voluntarily attended a west London police station where he was interviewed under caution. Inquiries continue.”
An Arsenal spokesperson said: “This is a private matter which is in the hands of the police.”
This tops a terrible week regarding the player’s attitude and discipline, and raises huge questions over whether we need to reassess our midfield options.
Can we trust Xhaka’s temperament and discipline as we move forward as a club? Is he a liability? Or is the airport drama and sending off being overplayed?
Pat J
Xhaka definitely deserves more time before we can make a judgement on him. Ramsey’s been given 8/9 years to try and impress, and yet some fans, and obviously Wenger, feel Ramsey deserves even MORE time, so should it be the same rules for everyone? Obviously Xhaka has a big price tag on his head, so he needs to performing consistently fairly soon.
I always feel that two seasons should easily be enough time to see if an experienced, expensive, player has impressed enough. As I’ve already pointed out, the Ramsey situation is NOT how one should deal with things. He should have been sold a long time ago. The perfect way, was with Gervinho. He was an experienced international that didn’t impress during two seasons and was sold.
Why cannot Wenger do that with other players? If Wenger was selling deadwood on a regular basis, then he would have had more money to spend.
Perhaps with time he will equal the hype he came with. I`ll be very happy to be proven wrong, I don`t think he is that good. He`s an okay player but not exceptional.
He was quite poor at Monchengladbach at first, but when he finally came good, he didn’t just play, he also took the armband and propelled them into the Champions league places.
evryone needs to Chill. 1st season. great potential. He will learn
true, some players have been given 6 to 8 years at Arsenal to prove themselves, this guy shouldn’t be judged in just half a season
He will learn
Koscielny got 2 red cards in his first season with us in less matches than Xhaka. He turned out more than alright. World Class
Let’s give Xhaka a chance and time
Far to early to regret getting him. I think he is quality and will improve. Hopefully his temperament too
Yes, a little patience could be needed. We have been looking for “steel” for our team, and at the moment he does go over the top, but he is also quite young still. So let’s see, if he could just avoid the red cards, but stay strong, then he could be great for the team.
It is too early to regret about his capture. He is still young and can be shaped to a normal state if the right advice and support is given from his manager and friends. Let’s support him for improvement in stead of exaggerating the negative sides.
Give him time, don’t forget his first red card was a debatable one, other refs might have just given a yellow card and the one against Burnley came about because he gave the ball away while trying to make a simple short pass to a colleague and I think frustration made him tackle like he did. Obviously he has to cut out those challenges and not give the referee ( especially Jon Moss !! ) any excuse to send him off. As someone else has pointed out Koscielny got 2 red cards when he first played and now one of our best players.
pls…I have this question…y does ramsey leave our midfiled exposed, when he plays theres always like one midfielder on the pitch instead of two
2ndly…ramsey never gives forward passes..hes passes are always side ways so as to allow him time to go forward..the problem here is that wenger really doesn’t give or explain priorities to this players,they don’t even know what to do they just go out there like headless chickens…with ramsey and giroud in the team…how can we play Chelsea as we did the first leg…hmmm…I don’t want no thrashing from those blues
one question here…are we gonna play Chelsea with ramsey leaving the midfield exposed and giroud almost remaining silent through out the match…hmmm
Let’s face it, he has not yet been a roaring success. Having said that we all know some foreign players need time to adjust to life in the PL. I will judge him next season.
Having said that, I am not sure if he is particularly bright. Being near or being at the center of this Heathrow race altercation is rather dumb IMO.
Too early to tell, but I think he offers something which no other player we currently have does and that’s the ability to ping long balls accurately all over the park. I’m not convinced about the ‘adding steel’ aspect because I’m not especially impressed with his tackling generally and he’s not exactly a heavyweight presence like, say Wanyama. Give him time.
Pat J Can you please leave Xhaka alone? Nobody is perfect. Please let’s talk about Southampton