✍️ OFFICIAL Granit Xhaka (Out)

[BenTal]

He spent 6 years under the coaches. They all highly rated him, but Arteta is really the one who unlocked his potential. Sad that he is leaving, but happy at the same time for him and the club. I hope he continues his career as a football coach.

21m is a very good price. Good job Edu

 

[1970*Gooner]

Good business for a change.

 

[Bloodbather]

Great turnaround to end his stint on a high note. Had a nice last game as well. Probably added 10M to his price compared to last summer, which is huge since he's 30. We were rumoured to be selling him to Roma for like 13M last summer.

 

[baccy_man]

Good luck to Granit, After a tweak to his playing position last year it seemed to bring out the best of him, He had a really good season and showed that he could still be a valued player in the team but with our new players coming in I think he most likely would have been dropped down to a squad player.

 

[ThlRama]

21.5m is really good business, he was bought 7 (!) years ago for less than twice that. However, looking at how much we paid i.e. for Jorginho, it seems about fair too, since Xhaka is almost 1 year younger and has been a better player in the last 18+ months.

 

[drippin]

21.5m is really good business, he was bought 7 (!) years ago for less than twice that. However, looking at how much we paid i.e. for Jorginho, it seems about fair too, since Xhaka is almost 1 year younger and has been a better player in the last 18+ months.

Jorginho was from an emergency buy from a London rival team in January.

So it was a small overpay for a player with 6 months left in contract. But a great buy.

 

[TornadoTed]

Le
This
His off the ball defensive work was very good. Highly doubt Havertz or ESR as a left 8 is gonna get near that.
Tbf Havertz is a good presser & both may get you more goals.
Unless Rice is superman at 6 or playing as an 8 with a quality 6 behind you do worry we will get exposed, especially against the top teams?

Perhaps there may be a system change or tweak somewhere?

Havertz won't be as good as Xhaka defensively but I expect Timber as the inverting fullback will be better defensively than Zinchenko for example.

I think we will have enough squad depth by the end of this window to be able to pick a balanced team who are strong both offensively and defensively.

 

[Rasmi]

Havertz won't be as good as Xhaka defensively but I expect Timber as the inverting fullback will be better defensively than Zinchenko for example.

I think we will have enough squad depth by the end of this window to be able to pick a balanced team who are strong both offensively and defensively.

Zinchenko is much better footballer than Timber. The whole point of Zinchenko invented is to use his footballing skills in midfield. No point is having a defender in midfield

 

[sdotzdot]

£21.5m is a good fee.

Almost as if Edu isn’t actually crap, and up until now has only been trying to sell duds/high wage players… shocker.

 

[TornadoTed]

Zinchenko is much better footballer than Timber. The whole point of Zinchenko invented is to use his footballing skills in midfield. No point is having a defender in midfield

I'm sure Zinchenko will play plenty in his current role and rightly so, he is a lovely footballer. My point was that we should have a deep enough squad that we will see more rotation and if we require a bit more solidity for certain games we should have plenty of options to provide that.

 

[drippin]

£21.5m is a good fee.

Almost as if Edu isn’t actually crap, and up until now has only been trying to sell duds/high wage players… shocker.

Wonder when all those bashing Edu for years will apologise to him.

What is the breaking point for people to realize they were horribly wrong and the sillyness of the constant crying?

 

[ggunner12345]

I'll be absolutely gutted to see him go. Wonderful player and an incredible character. People say Rice is a leader, i don't see it, Rice is a 'lad', Xhaka is a man. Fantastic footballer, always the first one over to defend a teammate, always available, top professional. He will be missed, we are losing him a year too early imo.

You will be gutted I thought it was just bergman

 

[A_G]

 

[El Duderino]

£21.5m is a good fee.

Almost as if Edu isn’t actually crap, and up until now has only been trying to sell duds/high wage players… shocker.

It's not like his track record has been appaling up until this window or anything, right?

 

[Riou]

"I like ya, not very much but I like ya"

...Stone Cold Steve Austin to Kurt Angle, 2001.

That just about sums up how both Arsenal fans and Xhaka feel about the other.

Good luck to you Granit, thanks for the two Community Shield wins and telling us all to **** off

 

[Oxeki]

I remember when Wenger said his best position was as a B2B, a lot of Arsenal fabs ridiculed him. It's quite funny how Mikel is now seem as a genius for playing him in the same position Wenger got laughed at for saying was his best position.

That 35m is looking like a steal now isn't it? You'd be hard-pressed to find five CMs in the league who are better than him.


Credit to Mikel for extracting the best out for Granit though. I'll miss him though.

I won't lie, I'll miss him. He started to grow on me during the 20/21 season.


It's ironic that he's the only one with enough balls to stand up to Mikel but is one of Mikel's trusted lieutenants.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Think it's fair to say you're picking up a W over the Berg here.

A relatively small W given the opposition though.

 

[BergMan]

Think it's fair to say you're picking up a W over the Berg here.

A relatively small W given the opposition though.

Notice how Ornstein hasn’t said anything?

 

[field442]

Notice how Ornstein hasn’t said anything?

Because he's too busy to be reporting on the blindingly ****ing obvious.

 

[Riou]

Think it's fair to say you're picking up a W over the Berg here.

A relatively small W given the opposition though.

Tottenham's Carlos Vinicius doing the "Mbappe celebration" v non league Marine in the FA cup vibes.