Grant Xhaka – Should his Euro 2020 performances give (or have given) Arsenal some cause for thought?
Grant Xhaka – Should his Euro 2020 performances give (or have given) Arsenal some cause for thought?
By Jack Lacey
There was a time that most fans would not have been too upset to see Granit Xhaka leave Arsenal.
However, after a season in which he started to show his best form again, and an outstanding series of performances for Switzerland at Euro 2020, are the club about to make a big mistake?
Xhaka is set to become one of the first singings of the summer for new Roma boss Jose Mourinho.
Despite an improvement in form, the end of the 2020-21 campaign still felt natural end point for his time at the Emirates.
He has now been at the club for five years, played for three different managers, with varying levels of success, and on the back of the Euros, would still command a decent price.
Should the club though be reconsidering letting the Swiss captain go after such a timely reminder, of how good he can be at the highest level of the game?
The case for selling up
There is also the question mark of whether he is good enough technically, to be the orchestrator of the midfield Mikel Arteta envisions.
He has been at the club since 2016, and since then the midfield has unquestionably declined. Back then Arsenal had finished second, with Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Francis Coquelin all having good to great campaigns.
Xhaka was supposed to take the engine room to the next level but struggled for consistency in his first two seasons.
Then in late 2019, ‘that’ incident against Crystal Palace, forever soured his relationship with the Emirates crowd, which has never truly recovered.
He lost the captaincy, which may have actually helped him recover his own personal form last season, free from the stresses that come with being the leader in the team.
Unfortunately the club’s squad-building has been so poor over the last few years, are there really many players in the first team Arsenal couldn’t afford to sell?
Aubameyang, Saka definitely, Tierney, possibly Leno? But there aren’t that many. If it allows Arteta to sign a midfielder better suited to how he wants to set his team up, surely it is a no brainer that Xhaka be allowed to leave.
The case for retaining him
Whilst it looks for certain that the Swiss skipper is on his way to Rome, perhaps Arsenal should consider a last minute pull of the plug.
After all, he has been, not just one of the stand out Premier League players, but one the best midfielders at the European Championships.
With a few games still to play, it looks as though Xhaka might even be in with a shout of making the team of the tournament.
This is despite being banned for the quarter-final penalty shootout defeat against Spain, in just four games he drove his nation onto to exceeding pre-tournament expectations.
In the round-of-16 the Swiss were trailing world champions France 3-1 with just nine minutes to go. At that point many players may not have had anything left to give to summon a response.
However, Xhaka showed his fighting spirit, dragging his compatriots back into the tie, before glory in the penalty shootout. His desire, tackling and non-stop energy stopped the French being able to play through midfield with ease.
It was a reminder of just how good he can be.
Coupling this Euro 2020 form with his strong end to the 2020-21 campaign for the Gunners, does make you start to wonder if the club are doing the right thing?
After all, Arsenal finished eighth in the league. How many clubs finishing in mid-table could afford to see their most in-form players depart?
The expectation is that Arteta, Edu and the rest of the recruitment team will be busy this summer, but even with this in mind, selling a player who has just proven his ability at the highest level seems a risky move.
Photo credits: Getty Images
