Granit Xhaka is back in training with Arsenal after it appears his move to Roma has fallen through.
The Swiss international had been strongly linked with a move to Serie A all summer, but the Italian side have consistently failed to meet the Gunners valuation of the player and have not improved their offer for over a month.
As such, Arsenal appear to have called time on the deal and insisted that the 28 year old join up with the team for pre-season training following the extended break after his European Championship involvement.
Xhaka currently has two years left on his contract, and in The Athletic, Amy Lawrence reports (£) that the club are offering the midfielder an extension.
Given that the player was open to leaving this summer, and could probably move more easily next summer with just one year left, it’s difficult to know why he would sign it if he has desires to play somewhere else before the end of his career.
Arsenal might say they want to avoid a situation where a player with 12 months to go can just run down their contract, but recent history has shown us that’s a better situation to deal with than having an aging player with multiple years left.
It remains to be seen what happens, but for now Xhaka is at Arsenal. Maybe Roma will come back with an improved bid before the deadline of August 31st.
However, with a clutch of midfielders still on the books (Xhaka, Thomas Partey, Albert Lokonga, Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Lucas Torreira), it doesn’t look as if there’ll be a signing in this area until there’s a departure or two.
We are really bad at selling.
A lot of European clubs just don’t have the money unless they sell.
I personally really like this. I think we are playing the game here. Roma think we have a player who is definitely going to leave and we are making it look like we are more than happy for him to stay.
Great poker face. Like it.
I really hope you are right. He has to go.
Smart man.. I’m with the move as well.its time to start playing hardball in these windows.. Enough of being bullied to sell and non one else seems to bring their prices down for us to buy.
Absolutely. If the money isn’t right, no player should move. And we may end up losing money on this particular deal. But it sends a message. We aren’t selling players for shitty fees anymore. Xhaka is worth £15-20m in this market. He’s had a great Euro’s, a great season at Arsenal and he’s in his prime. Fuck Roma and fuck Jose. They don’t get freebies from us anymore. If they really wanted him, they’d offer us more but maybe pay later, in a season or two when their money problem is sorted. Xhaka can be a good squad player this… Read more »
Xhaka set the bar so low during his 5 years at Arsenal, that a decent and unspectacular season, where he happened to be the best in a poor midfield, is considered having a great season.
How many player of the month awards was he in the running for?
Team of the season?
The man is limited, average, but capable of a few good passes each game. The team will not progress to where we all want, with him as one of our main men in midfield. If he stays, it should be for cover and no more.
Two problems:
There’s not reason for Roma to offer us more money. If I were them, I’d offer less. Either we’re happy with Xhaka (and not buying another CM) or we want to sell him. There’s no point in keeping him. Everyone knows this.
Your poker face doesn’t matter if everyone can see you don’t even have a pair.
You play hardball with the players who have value. Not Granit fucking Xhaka, who makes our whole team worse.
Whether you like Xhaka or not, and you clearly don’t, he’s just come off the back of his best season for Arsenal (interestingly without the fans) and a good Euro 2020(21). Arsenal play to his technical strengths (when he’s not at LB), and cover his mobility weaknesses. In Italy, his strengths are less significant and his strengths will likely prove greater. I’d say the value Arsenal are pushing for is deserved and sends a good sign to buying clubs. What’s more, Arsenal have proven more dysfunctional without Xhaka in midfield, and I’m personally a little worried about how long it… Read more »
That’s exactly my point – his strengths and weakness are our strengths and weaknesses. He’s a player who needs the whole team to be set of to cover for him. And he’s not exactly Messi. We should move on from him and get someone with weaknesses less glaring who allows us more flexibility in how we build the squad. Even if I thought he were amazing – which I clearly don’t – I think it would be a mistake to build our midfield around two guys “in their prime”, when we have a fading striker surrounded by twenty-year-olds. I agree… Read more »
I think the days of building the team around Xhaka are over, hence his almost/probable departure. There is definitely a need for a midfielder of high intelligence, dexterity, and mobility. Keeping my fingers crossed that we have a secret deal for such a player almost done. Although all of our summer deals have been very visible, so I’m not without concern here. Ben White’s arrival also signals something of a death knell or a possible reprieve for Granit, as White’s unique properties mean the ball doesn’t always need to go through a deeper-sitting midfielder. I think an emphasis on new… Read more »
Did you see him play at the Euro’s???
He was immense against the French and that through ball, wow!
Some people are so hard headed that even if this guy won player of the year, they’ll still be crying for him to leave.
I thought some of our worst games last season were the ones where he wasn’t in the team!
You see the Euros and a through ball. I see the last 5 seasons. Obviously if he won player of the year, we’ll be happy for him. That will never happen though, I’ve got about as much chance of making the Arsenal bench
Agreed he had a superb euros I’m not his biggest fan but he was superb in those games… why would we sell him on the cheap… we keep him he plays simples … don’t think another new arrival will be an upgrade on him as that’s a gamble that rarely pays off….
But he didn’t win Player of the Year, did he. If he had, my opinion might be a little different.
But in this reality, Xhaka is not, nor will ever be, Player of the Year, because he’s not that good. He’s not even good enough to be our starting midfielder – that is if we’re not satisfied with remaining eighth.
And yes, he was good at the Euros. The speed of play is lower at the Euros.
In England, he’s an extremely flawed player who should be nowhere near a top-4 team – and indeed, hasn’t been.
Yeah but what’s the point in selling an asset for way under market value and then not having enough money to replace him? Then you’re a man short.
What’s the point in keeping a player you neither want nor need?
And the market value for Xhaka seems to have been what was offered, otherwise we would have taken some other team’s offer which was higher than Roma’s – what was that, no other teams are interested?
Hmmm. To get someone’s market value, don’t you need a market?
He can’t be that bad otherwise Roma wouldn’t be interested. Maybe he had his heart set on Rome and that other clubs didn’t move in because of that. Now that move is off he will have to reconsider his options.
I don’t see a problem here, and staying
next season would be fine with me, he’s clearly a good pro and a leader.
Maybe they thought he already got Mickey for free from us. Thus thought “Heck, why not try the same approach for Xhaka. Who knows they might gives him for free again”
Spot on.
We should get fat ron in as director of football then. He’s a poker master
Surely not the same who bought Fashanu off Wimbledon for a seven figure sum? You know, Fashanu? Both knees gone? Played part of two games and then quit to present “Gladiators”?
They sang “Fat Ron is my hero” at Plough Lane for years after that.
While I agree we should never take less than market value. Xhaka is an international captain we can’t just give him away.
I don’t think it’s as simple as that. If we’ve got a thing that we think is worth 2X, and the person who wants to buy it thinks it’s only worth X, then I’d say we are bad at selling if we accepted X for it. I think our bigger issue is that we have a lot of stuff that people don’t want.
If no club in the world is willing to pay more than “X” then perhaps he’s worth… “X”
I’d like to think my house is worth £10m but it’s fuck all use if I do.
They will pay up. You just wait and see.
We keep telling other clubs via press that the player is error prone and difficult to handle, or unsetled, or not good enought. How on earth do we expect them to react? by putting a really good and fat bid? Liverpool and Chelsea just sold unproven kids for more than we would sell our best CM last season.
Same with buys, we keep telling people we have money and really really need the players we are after, of course we are going to be charged a lot more because of it.
You are right. I think we (fans) need to be a bit less dismissive of our players or we get what we declare and the club takes the hit. Pray. Who are the kids Chelsea and Liverpool sold for more than £17m? To what clubs?
Jordan Ibe, Solanke, Tomori
Some guy was just sold to Fulham for 13 mn last week
Ultimately, the buyer(s) set the price. Or you keep the asset.
I would keep Xhaka instead of flogging him at such a fee.
So how come our first five bids for Ben White were rejected?🤔
With our fans spouting such guff about how we have players people don’t want, why are you surprised clubs believe they can mug is off, using our own fans?
Good name for a commenter….from up the road? 🙂
Ironically, this is when we were trying not to be bad at selling.
Couldn’t agree more. If Torreira, Xhaka, Nketiah, Bellerin were the exact same players with the same appearances and performances, but were Chelsea, Liverpool, or Foxes men, they’d have been sold for 20-30 million apiece by now. There’s something hugely incompetent about Arsenal’s selling team, it’s like a player becomes tainted and damaged after they’ve played for Arsenal. The fact that Kolasinac, Torreira, Nketiah, Xhaka, even Bellerin, are still in the squad is pretty pathetic. I mean, Liverpool would have gotten 30 for Nketiah, they have fleeced teams for that much for worse players. And I don’t buy the “nobody has… Read more »
even Elneny would be at a team like Crystal Palace for 15m. We are really bad at keeping the good image of players we don’t want, making them unwanted for everyone else aswell
I see your point. But fans of all clubs do it. High profile mistakes like Xhaka’s will not leave him with a great reputation. It’s not the fans, it’s the player.
I agree with you there, was talking more about the club’s strategy, not the fans. The club tends do burn the player to ease the presure on the board, leaking reports and stuff that in the long term are self damaging (see ozil, douzi, xhaka, torreira with the “not physical enought for premier league” talk and many others)
Do you think it was the “‘not physical enought for premier league’ talk” that made Simeone not start Torreira at Atletico?
It could be the player’s not that good.
Ozil hasn’t been great in Turkey either.
The club doesn’t put out such talk about players. It’s the so called “talking heads” which feeds into the mass hysteria of our fans; milked by the blogs, sky tv and other media like The Mail.
We need to believe in them more instead of preferring a shiny new player every time, making out like players of other teams are always an upgrade on whatever we have. We got Pepe but we keep flashing looks at Zaha, even though statistically, Pepe added more to goals and assists of Arsenal than Zaha did for Palace. It’s a problem. The problem.
Beside that, when you are champions or contenders, even your surpluses are worth buying. Unfortunately we haven’t been at that level for a few years, so it is hard moving people we do not want.
That is such a good point. Player valuation is tied to team’s position in the league. If you are Liverpool, your academy grad like Brewster goes for big money without playing in the PL. It is kind of like how popular football games rate players not solely on quality, but which clubs they play for.
White cost us £50M, Kate, Grealish, the kid we want to buy from Leicester, all these guys are coming from mediocre clubs. I blame Arteta, his man-management is very poor and he clashes with a lot of players. Instead of rotating players, he freezes them and they end up looking like they are not good enough. That is not good marketing in my book.
*Kane
Liverpool sold Suarez for big money when they were perennial also-rans in the league. Leicester city been selling players (since their last league win) at huge fees, even though they only manage to remain in the top half.
Arteta has a cleaning job to do to change the narrative and he would need help of the fans.
Suarez was their best player by a mile. If we put Saka/ESR in the market today, we’ll get a king’s ransom for them.
This, I can relate to. However, we have been winning cups in the period but the fans act as if we were just lucky and keep seeking an “upgrade” on every player… the implication? The narrative of the players not being good enough.
You probably need to look at the wages they would be on at each club!
I think we need to just allow the club’s staff do their job. It doesn’t help when our own fans cast aspersions on players and staff on social media or blogs. We can only become canon fodder for the bloggers and other outlets who feed on our panic-stricken clicks whenever some negative stuff is put out about our players.
Let’s be realistic here. Arsenal staff cast aspersion on the players just as much as the fans do. I’m pretty sure what Arteta or Edu have to say about a player has far more impact on their marketability than whatever HankyRear89 has to say about the same player.
This I definitely agree with. Rivals fans also contribute to those clicks as well.
Then at least we fleeced Liverpool when they bought Ox. 40 million and he’s played hardly at all since going there.
I agreed.
Just see how much they are getting for Rhian Brewster and Dominic Solanke
And if English players need to pay a premium, then why are we not getting them for the likes of Willock, ANM, Nketiah, Nelson
Unfortunately for us there is a huge difference between trying to sell a player that is playing with a top team and trying to sell a player that is playing for a team that ends up in the middle of the table.
The problem isn’t the fee its the wages. We pay too much generally and the wage demands of these players don’t fit the wage structure of other clubs.
If those players were at the teams you mention, those teams would be drifting to mid-table and the players would be worth pretty much what they are now. Not much.
At this point offering him an extension literally be the dumbest thing we could do. If we are turning down £15-18M for him now, that figure is never ever going to get any higher than that. So it actually makes more sense to allow his contract to run down and let him go on a free. Otherwise it will cost us around £14-15M just to keep him for another 3 years, which is absolutely ridiculous. Because listen, he has been a really poor signing for us. The fact that the only club showing any interest in signing him is Roma… Read more »
No way we could sell him very cheap.Roma hasn’t even offered 15m pounds… Selling him for less than 15m would not allow us to buy even a decent player.We should wait patiently for a bigger bid to arrive and even if that doesn’t happen then he could play until his contract expires…
Got nothing to do with it.
If Inter haven’t met our valuation, what else is there to do other than tell where to stick it.
I’m pleased we haven’t caved in and sold him on the cheap.
Sold him on the cheap? I’d argue that £15-18M is his market value. I don’t think Roma are low balling us at all. Xhaka was bought for around £30M, there’s no way we’re going to get £20M for him 5 years and 5 extremely underwhelming seasons later.
Any player not in demand is hard to sell. I’m sure we’d be great at selling saka. There’s only money in the Premier league and every club in the Premier league knows how poorly suited xhaka is to English football. There’s also a reason we want to sell players who are on champions league wages; they’ve demonstrated they’re average at best. No one would be selling the players we have unless there’s something dodgy going on in the background. The same level can be bought for cheaper elsewhere and on less demanding wages. Its just a phase we’ll have to… Read more »
Mourinho just fucking around with us again.
He did a good job doing that at Sp*rs.
the worst by a mile
When I heard first heard the rumours of selling Xhaka, I had a similar sinking feeling in my gut to when I first heard rumours about Martinez being sold.
Ugh
Bloody hell…
I was like “Oh, for fuck’s sake!!”
🤣
I am not sad about this.
If he can bring the European form into next season, it bodes well for the team
Does it? A player who wanted to leave the club for 2 seasons gets held hostage, a fanbase that does not like him, a long term contract on even higher wages? That bodes well?
Xhaka is not the reason we lost out of Europe last season, if we are being honest.
I get the hate, but it shouldn’t blind us to the facts on ground.
If all the players put in the shift Granit did last season, we’d be playing CL football this season.
Auba was sh*t
Willian was worse
Arteta kept rewarding Pepe’s promising displays with the bench in the following games.
Yes, Granit cost us a point or two, but so did Luis.
We haven’t had a sniff of the ECL since he joined.
Even if that was true (it’s not, he played in the champs league his 1st season with us) it’s hardly as tho he’s the sole reason we dropped out of the top 4. He’s not even the main reason.
Weirdly I remember supporters criticising Wenger for not starting him ahead of Coquelin that 1st season.
Supporters got their wish eventually & as we all know, we won the league the following season & fans never criticised the manager or club ever again………
Same with Auba and Lacazette.
Lots of background noise from his infamous incident with the fans. That aside some people are sad that we have failed to sell our best midfielder from the previous season?
No club is coming for the best midfielder at our club. This is exactly why we should sell at what the market offers. If a player was worth 30M, and you offered him around for 20M, people will be biting your hand off for him at 20M. Fact is, no club in Europe is willing to pay 20M for Xhaka, the best midfielder at a mid-table team.
My point being why sell? the onus is on Roma and if they can’t meet our valuation then no harm having our best performer and by far the fittest player in the squad. Like Wenger once said “new is new”. If you are sad that “Aquilani” Locateli isn’t gambling on a new league or some Brazilian at Lyon isn’t coming to win us the league then fine. If we got linked with a random midfielder at Ludogorets I see people going on Xhaka plus cash assuming every new player improves us. Same people that want Xhaka gone moan about a… Read more »
He’s done with us, his heart is not in it. He has to go and he’s not good enough.
I see your point, you think why change what has been working. I just think he is not good enough. And apparently he is not good enough for any other team either, judging from the level of interest in him. We know what he offers, players his type are plenty. He did make the team function as his progressive passer role, but he is not taking us anywhere new. We need to go new, its the theme of this season.
Always laugh at the argument of xhaka’s excellent fitness. He has no athleticism. He never sprints and never challenges his body. He’s like a throwback to the 80’s where no one got injured because he simply isn’t an athlete
I don’t think it is emotions. Most fans know our team has a problem. I agree that Xhaka is one of the most athletic sport men I have ever seen but his game does or did not seem to be compatible with the arsenal type of play. Xhaka to me is a bit slow and is not very technical, hence he passes the ball backwards a lot. I agree with most that we need an upgrade. On the other hand, youngsters like Nelson, Azizi os Martinelli show a lot of potential and don’t get enough chances to improve and prove… Read more »
Same people that want Xhaka gone moan about a potential exit of say Nelson. So it’s emotions over actually squad strength. This reminds me of when some City fans were puzzled when their club let young talents like Boateng and Sturridge leave after little gametime only to keep guys like Gareth Barry around longer than expected. The thing is…We know that Xhaka has already plateaued, the same can’t be said yet for Nelson. A big part of the reason why our transition play is so slow is so that we maintain a shape that protects slower players like Elneny, Xhaka… Read more »
“Aquilani” Locatelli… Good call! Actually Aquilani looked a lot more exiting when Liverpool bought him… Also, about new players, even “world class” Partey struggled in his first season, and he still has to show he can be the main man in mid for us (I hope he does). So while I understand that people want to move on from Granit, I am still waiting to hear the name of a convincing replacement (the Brazilian at Lyon is not)
Our midfield sucked last season. He may have been our best midfielder, but Luiz was apparently our best center back.
In the land of the blind and all that.
We are going to end up with a massive squad and with no European games a lot of players not involved. Got to start shifting some soon.
Xhaka is the working action man in our garage sale of preloved, wonky and upgradable collectibles.
Does taking the lower price on the crown jewel devalue the rest of the stock?
I agree. This is such a tough spot for the club to be in. The staff will have to decide which is more important – shrinking the squad or getting fair compensation for wantaway players. I see at least another loan with option to buy deal happening. On another note, you’re really a gooner from the north-west? You must be a unicorn😄. In my time in the NW, I never met a single Arsenal fan from there. Most of the football fans I met up there supported the Manchester and Liverpool teams in the Premier League with a few Tranmere… Read more »
Nice posturing, but there’s only one buyer and it’s time to take what’s on offer. If the alternative is signing him to a contract that keeps him through age 33, the decision is an obvious one. Time to move on.
Watch this deal collapse – and our hopes of improving the midfield with it.
Cheers Edu. Cheers Arteta. How can we ever thank you? 🤮
Exactly. Offer an unhappy player a long term contract on high wages. That will end well.
I think we should just take what they’re offering. Xhaka has gotten some kind of gypsy curse to not qualify for champions league 🙂 /s Pass the curse on to Roma.
Maybe they know about it.
Pls stop, they might have spies on this page.😭
I’m gutted. I really don’t want to take another season of Xhaka
You’re not alone, sadly.
Mediocrity Central.
‘Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home’ – Wenger
And how did his career turn out after signing Xhaka?
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
Without a doubt the biggest leader in the Arsenal dressing room. Has captained practically every team he has played for. Was our best midfielder last season. All of his managers have made him Central to their teams. Yet some fans are angry at him not being sold for waaaaay less than his value. We arsenal fans are the problem. We don’t know our friends. Thank you Arteta. Please keep him.
….but only until his contract runs out.
His qualities are replaceable. Every manager used him because he was the only progressive passer in the squad for all that time. It tells a story of bad recruitment, not Xhaka’s speciality.
Wenger’s 2nd worst signing ever, behind Mustafi.
Kolasinac, Squillachi, Silvestre, Gallas.
As much as I dislike Xhaka, he’not as bad as that lot
gallas was still a good player despite his bad attitude.
The rest were cheap buys
xhaka cost 38 million at a time when 35 would have got you kante
Agree. Maybe our fans need to actually support our players rather than vindicate them. He is quite clearly one of most important players
I agree with you.
I’ve never had an issue with Xhaka. In fact, I was actually concerned that he could be sold. The only reason a sale was on the table was because Jose came sniffing around and said he was interested. Otherwise the club wouldn’t be considering the sale.
To me it’s very simple, we said ok what have you got, Jose low balled, we said ‘meh’, conversation is over.
Every Arsenal fan who dislikes Xhaka can suck it up.
I wouldn’t be so sure of that pal, especially if the fans return in full capacity.
Any performances like Burnley away – and there will be – and the boos raining down on him will be ear splitting.
The whole thing could just be Jose trolling the Arsenal fans..
He’s not that smart. Petty and dismissive, yes. He used to be a decent manager. I give him a season and a half.
I would like him sold but I think we have to understand that clubs outside England right now aren’t exactly financially strong. However atleast one out of Xhaka and Torriera has to be sold for a decent sum. We can’t afford to have a bloated squad with no Europe this season.
Wonder if we could get Roma to agree to a loan + requirement to buy next year at 20mil.
… Never good enough for our club. Have to set up the entire team to cover for his – many – weaknesses.
Get rid.
Totally agree with Blogs….no need to offer him a pay rise or contract extension.
The problem for Arteta is that he can’t keep buying players with the size of the squad. It will end up in trouble if we don’t shift some of the old guard soon.
Or even a place in the first XI.
I really think moving on from him is key to our revolution.
Absolutely!
He just had his best season with us. If we dont buy another midfielder I would like him to stay instead of selling him off for candy.
This is the problem his best season and still looked average and in turn made us the same It’s not Real Madrid, Barcelona. Bayern or Juventus calling it’s Roma a team that took the Miki . In PL terms an Everton at best. Sell that window breaking postman asap.
… and we finished 8th.
His best isn’t good enough.
Are you happy with a midfield of only Partey and lokonga, with Elneny as a backup?
We’ve lost control of the game when Xhaka hasn’t played. He is a tough player to like with his mistakes here and there, but he can do a job that I don’t think the other candidates in midfield can replicate yet (except Partey ofc.)
We should get someone to play there then. If we don’t now, we’re going to have to next summer. And then we’ll have to change the way we play, because Xhaka is such a specific player. Best get it out of the way quickly. Look, we’ve had Xhaka long enough, we know what he is. I don’t think there’s any point in persisting with him any longer. If he were good enough to be the go-to midfielder at a club fighting for fourth, other teams would be biting our hand off to buy him. Maddison is apparently worth £70 million,… Read more »
Burnley away. Fill your boots.
Sorry but I disagree. I’d 2018/19 under Emery was his best individual season. No red-cards, four goals, two assists, 40 chances created, fewest errors (for Xhaka) and fewest losses (again for Xhaka) in the league that season.
EUROS aside, last season is arguably amongst one of his worst at Arsenal.
Great decision. I reckon we can get £15 million for him next summer. It solves the CM problem for another season and allows us to place resources in more urgent areas. RB, no10 and GK.
Do you honestly believe we’ll have enough budget for that lot whilst we’re still paying this loser his wages……?
Go figure.
That’s what you reckon is it? You must be Edu’s best mate.
We complain that Arsenal players sell for a fraction of what Chelsea players sell for, but that’s the difference between finishing 8th and winning the Champions League. It might be partially irrational, but player evaluations (and perceptions of player’s quality) tends to be linked to how successful the club is. Unfortunately, no one is going to break the bank to sign squad players from a team that finished 8th.
This guy is a bloody tick. Ffs
At least there can be more Xhaka Saka Lacca goal moments
This is really bad news if the rumours about him possibly being offered a new deal to protect value are true. The team desperately need to move on from accommodating Xhaka’s unique skill set. We need someone more positive and mobile in the middle.
Just look at what limited appearances we have seen from Lakonga to see the difference.
This is making Jose Mourinho really sad. And that, for me, makes this excellent news.
Fuck Mourinho.
Arsenal is what matters here – and this is one passenger we can no longer carry if we want to make the top four again.
I am as ready to move on from Xhaka as anyone. He’s a decent player (not a great one), but his style and talents do not fit what we are trying to do at this club. He’s one our unwanted players who we actually should be able to get money for, but this transfer window, like the last, is an incredibly tough market for sellers. If we have to keep him one more year and replace Xhaka next summer (unless Lakonga displaces him during the year), I suppose it’s not the end of the world. He may be worth less… Read more »
There may be more to this story and we may be delaying accepting Roma’s offer because we’re struggling to source a suitable replacement.
If he leaves – and with the season starting in 2 weeks – you’re looking at the 4 CM options being Partey, Lokongo, Elneny, Maitland-Niles.
That’s fine for Brentford, but then it’s Chelsea and Man City after that. I would rather have Xhaka’s experience and leadership for those big games rather than Elneny or throwing Lokongo in at the deep end.
Exactly.
He’ll go in transfer deadline day when Edu blinked
Blinks
I fucking hope you’re right. 🙏🏻
Don’t know how I feel about this. On one hand he was our best midfielder last season, on the other we’ve been out of the Champions League every year since he joined and could do with a refresh in the middle.
We need an upgrade on Xhaka, then I’d be happy for him to be a squad player.
I think it’s been a case of a bad system and that he plays well with certain types of midfield partners. He has had too much to do at times and has also been asked to play roles not suited to him. Many arsenal fans, me included, can be too simplistic with their analysis. I like his leadership skills and personality. Good to have someone like him to help our young players. There’s so much we don’t know as fans too. Stays or goes, I’m happy either way. El Neny is who we should be looking to sell
He’s not a bad player, but those lapses of concentration he is prone to are not what world class players do
Oh God no!!!
I’m scared.
Please, please, Arsenal Football Club. For the sake of the player himself and for us fans. Ensure that Granit Xhaka, beloved son of Elmaze and Ragip is no longer a player at this club come the 31st of August 2021.
Hopefully this isn’t the end of this transfer saga.
The more I think about it, the more I think you’re right. He is good and reliable but symbolises the decline in recent years…..can feel my pre-season optimism sinking if he is in the starting XI against Brentford. Surely Lokonga can’t be our only midfield upgrade after everyone we’ve been linked to?!
Never liked this guy never thought he was what we needed and his arrival has coincided with our slide, as other teams have much better options in this position. This position needs to be upgraded for us to move forward. Yet through sheer force of will he grew on me last season, when ‘big’ characters disappeared and more popular players were in terrible form he somehow found consistency. In the current climate can we afford a midfielder that will take us to the next level? Could Lokonga providing legs free Xhaxa up? At this point he is still our best… Read more »
Is this sarcasm?
no issue with him staying. a real captain who has always given 100% for the shirt. i think he represents the club well and showed at the euros what he’s capable of.
Moving Xhaka on is Step 1 of the rebuild.
Every year where Xhaka is our primary option in midfield is a year wasted.
We won’t be able to replace him like-for-like, nor should we. He’s the primary reason our team is so slow – and our team being slow is the primary reason we haven’t made the Champions League since we signed him.
If someone wants him, sell him.
To be honest if you’re a top club wanting to compete at the top then you don’t want to sign the likes of Xhaka in my opinion. So I’m not surprised there aren’t many clubs interested in him for our asking price. £15 million is about right for him though. I still to this day don’t know what qualities our scouts/manager ever saw in him to justify paying £30 mill plus years ago?
To be fair he was good at Monchengladbach and was young (23 I think?) at the time. He was clearly seen as the Arteta replacement but the problem is he’s not as dynamic as Arteta and has the turning circle of an elephant. He was utilised poorly by Wenger and Emery. Arteta seems to have got more out of him because he’s not being put in the kind of situations he struggles with (eg collecting the ball from the defence facing our goal). I think he’s not as bad as a lot of people seem to think. He’s just not… Read more »
he’s not being put in the kind of situations he struggles with (eg collecting the ball from the defence facing our goal).
True. Xhaka still does it instinctively sometimes and it is a frrightening sight sometimes. The Burnley and Liverpool away games come to mind
Arsenal have much bigger problems. Granit Xhaka is waaaaay down the list. We need a starting right back, a creative midfielder and we need to urgently organize our striking line. Laca is clearly more suited for our kind of game that Auba. Auba should also not be first choice for the left wing in a fully fit Arsenal team. So we have a striker with a year left on his contract and a “captain” who deserves to be on the bench.
Striker is more important than creative mid. Really don’t get the clamor for another no.10.
I think it’s because the only one we have, while excellent, is very young and picks up quite a few injuries.
Who creates the chances for the forwards through the channels…..?
Take your time, mate……
I don’t understand Edu and Arteta’s transfer strategy if there is one. I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but next season is all about the results. If we don’t challenge for the top four, it’s a failure of this regime.
This area is our virtue. Selling players for cheap and holding players to big long contract and eventually pay them just to ask them to leave, just ask Ozil, Mustafi, Mickey.
We REALLY need to improve on this area. There are clubs who knows when to sell when the correct offer comes in.
We misses out when Bellerin could fetch 50mil. And now he worth 15-18mil!!!???
Now apart for Saka, I dun see any of the current squad could fetch 50mil and above.
Because winning football matches is all about how much you sell players for when they are playing well…
*sigh *
When did our fans become like sp*rs fans?
Jeez has everyone forgotten that Xhaka is a good player?
Rubbish.
He’s one of the main reasons that we haven’t had a sniff of the ECL since he arrived.
Bang average player and a selfish immature kid to boot. Captain my arse. The sooner he’s gone, the sooner this club can rebuild the midfield properly.
Seemingly, yes.
And that includes every other football club.
If only
Then again, some people have very quickly forgotten that Xhaka threw the captain’s armband on the ground and told the fans to fuck off.
Bellerin + xhaka + laca for lauturo then. Or xhaka + cash for odengaard
You think Real Madrid would take Xhaka? I very much doubt it.
He really needs to go to rome. He and mou are a match made in heaven
Is Torreira in pre season training?
I’d rather him than Xhaka, any day.
Uruguay’s Copa America campaign finished on 3rd July – so today or tomorrow would be the last day of Torreira’s 4 week summer holiday. Will be interesting to see what will happen next. For all Arteta’s and Edu’s criticisms around here, they seem to be able to convince players to stay or sign new contracts, as they’ve done with Aubameyang, Xhaka, Tierney, Saka, ESR, Balogun, Martinelli. Elneny and Holding looked like they were leaving last summer. You’d expect him back in pre season training next week to regain his fitness levels whatever happens. He could be a useful squad player… Read more »
We need to sell Xhaka and move on. But if we actually get Lautaro I can live with him staying…
Arsenal fans are a danger to Arsenal.
I’m no fan of his but we have to get a decent price for him so I can see what the club are doing plus the fact I think he’s a way better fit for the Italian league so would probably excel there.
Like a new signing, looked out the door. This guy was one of the stars of the Euros man. Welcome back to the Arsenal.
🤣
FUCK! Worse news this year
I have said this is a no brainier. We can’t sell him if we don’t have a direct replacement. If he is fit he is in most people’s starting 11 so unless we can find a like for like or ideally an improvement we don’t sell especially as we don’t have to!
From what I see, the majority of the problems in the team have been midfield. They just don’t progress the ball and Xhaka is stopping that happening to a large extent.
I never doubt his commitment, but he always slows down attacks and rarely passes forward. He also get’s caught on the ball and easily outpaced. So both defence and attack are compromised.
We need to move on from him before there can be a big change in the fortunes of Arsenal. History shows the decline during the time he and some others have been here.
Couldn’t wait to see the back of him and move on from him and previous clown transfers we did (mustafi etc.). So we have a defender we didn’t need and the MF we wanted to ship out staying, while freezing out young and upcoming talents (saliba, nelson etc.). Mikel can’t develop and work with what he has, he wants to cut corners still. He needs to go, as well as edu.
Damn, damn, damn. This was the most important transfer we could make this summer. Back to slow-mo transitions and record breaking calamities. Mid-table with him as our defacto leader.
Just sell him at market price and move on.
There’s so much negativity about Xhaka here. Yes, he has made some big errors. Yes, he’s not particularly fast. But he’s been a solid professional willing to play wherever he’s told, and he does a good job there. His passing range is as good as any teammate’s, his positioning is very good, he’s good in the air, and he has that intimidation factor that so few of our men have. He’s kept things ticking so well that his is almost the first name on the team sheet when available. He does not get hurt often. If we sold him, we’d… Read more »
Did someone say “good in the air”?
He can stay and be back up to lokongo
Please, please sell the average and slow player he is. Especially to that gimp Maureen at Roma. If he stays and is made captain again the season will already be decided.
We were told by the management at the end of the season that they had to be “ruthless” in the transfer market. That the squad needed players more suited to the managements style of play & the trimming of those unable to meet his standards. With the new season just 7 days away we have to ask ourselves have the management been “ruthless” at all ?