Since leaving Arsenal 31-year-old Granit Xhaka as been on fire, winning the league with Bayer Leverkusen, being a huge reason for their success and has been thriving in Germany and €25 Million is starting to look like a steal for the German club as he continues to thrive.
Xhaka picked up the MOTM award when his country Switzerland beat Hungary 3-1 and has a great game of football. Of course social media started to have a breakdown over Arsenal letting the talented midfielder go, but even though he’s been in great form since leaving the club, should we regret selling him?
Personally, Xhaka was always one of my favourite players when he was playing for Arsenal and when we sold him I questioned it a bit.- But after bringing in Declan Rice I understood why the club was choosing to sell him, although the fee we got for him was not much more than we could have won for a jackpot at a crypto casino! Yes I thought we might regret it a bit but when I sit back and look at the bigger picture, I think we made the right decision.
We bought Xhaka from Borussia Munchengladbach for €45 Million in 2016 and he was a great servant for us, but considering the fact that he’s reaching the later years of his career, I think it was the right option for the club and the player, and has worked out for both of us. Of course, recency bias will come into the conversation and watching him do so well this past season would leave fans to question why we let him go but we got a good fee and were able to bring in both Havertz and Rice.
I do think we could have used Xhaka as an option from the bench, but he would never have been happy to be a bench player and moving on was the best option for both parties. Of course, as we always do, Arsenal fans will keep a keen eye on his progress and wish him the best with his future, it’s good to see a player who gave so much to the club thrive and do so well, even if it’s not with us.
To summarise, no I don’t think we should regret selling Xhaka, personally I think we’ve brought in enough quality for it to not become a problem. Although he’s doing well in Germany and currently at the Euro’s, we mustn’t have regrets even though some fans may say that we could have won the title this season if he hadn’t left…
I’ve said it time and time again in here – Xhaka was hugely underrated and undervalued by certain quarters of fans.
He was a leader both on and off the pitch and his availability last year, could well have made the difference. We’ll never know.
In the years since Gilberto left, we never had a midfield enforcer, and Xhaka took it upon himself to do the role that we were lacking in. Whilst some of his tackles and timing weren’t perfect, without him, we’d have been an easy touch. Too many fans simply think that Xhaka wasn’t good enough – however the truth was that he was playing in a different role that what he’d ever done.
We only saw the real Xhaka in the last season or two – once he had someone like Partey to take on the enforcer role.
There’s no doubt that Xhaka’s leadership and presence, both on and off the pitch would’ve been huge to us last season and that is by no means diminishing the leadership that Rice bought to us.
He is now thriving in a team where he is playing in his preferred (and best) position – and just look at what that team has done.
Possibly. Has done very well in the first half against Germany as has Ndoye of Bologna who looks very quick and dangerous.
Maybe, if Xhaka and other Arsenal players had a physically-dominant CF to hold the ball in the final-third for them
Xhaka and other Leverkusen players had Boniface to win Bundesliga, whereas we became more consistent when Havertz led the attack
I’ve been stressing the importance of a physically-dominant CF for years. I don’t think Arsenal will ever win a major title with a diminutive CF as their main target man
umm, no…what a strange bunch we are…Xhaka almost hounded out by the fans and then lorded by the fans
Arsenal fans as sentimental as it gets
seriously, Xhaka spent 7 years at Arsenal, most of the time underwhelming and getting red cards, his final year had flourishes of brilliance but also marred by the turning point at Anfield when we were 2 nil up and the rest is history
Xhaka was definitely not a PL title pivotal player ever
What would you do if a player came up and pushed you in the back ? Stand up for yourself or melt ?
Nooooooooo!!!!!
He helped lose us it at Anfield..
He couldn’t have helped us lose it at Anfield as he was a Leverkusen player last season.
DOH!, the season before and we didn’t lose it, we lost 2 goals from cruising, to 2-0. Do be correct, I meant lose it as in attitude wise. Surely you remember his antics.
Yes, I remember him standing up for himself after being pushed, off the ball, in the back by TTA, after he had gone in hard, but fair on him.
The article is about the season that’s just finished, not the previous on DOH !
Doh! No its about wether we would have won the league with Xhaka. Well, we didn’t last, so the form says No. Mainly he was a liability for us.
Well just because we didn’t win the PL the previous season doesn’t mean we wouldn’t have won it last season DOH !
As for his liability, booked just 5 times in the PL in his last season, meaning he never missed one PL game due to a suspension.
Said it at the time why did we let him go but keep Partey who we knew we would get injured
He waned on go. What would you have done, tie him down with a tether?
Saying no and telling a player your not selling him
Does happen lol
Including at Arsenal
Err, because that was the agreement between him and the club lol.
We would have won the league if Arteta fielded the winning midfield combination of Odegaard, Rice and Jorginho against Villa at the Emirates instead of tinkering by pulling Havertz into midfield. That loss against Villa was the immediate cause of losing the league
Here we go again 😔😔 sigh!!!
Yes we would have been stronger with him in the squad and probably we would have won the league.
Personally I think Timber’s injury was a factor.
Agree on both counts. I do think xhaka has become *a touch* overrated recently, but he would have given us better balance at times last season and kept havertz out of midfield.
Timber looked incredible before the injury and lb became a problem position again when he couldn’t play.
For the short time he played he owned the LB position.
‘ Timber looked incredible before the injury’
He got Injured in their first game ?
He played over 70 minutes against Man City in the CS and he was outstanding. As a matter of fact Man city scored a minute after he was substituted.
Even more matter of fact Palmer beat Tierney to score the goal!
Not disagreeing with that but you need to do more then 70 mins in essentially a pre season friendly to say his injury was a factor In title race
And he ain’t no “super man” either.