Granit Xhaka is back to his best under Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has been much-improved in recent times, and it sounds like an early chat with manager Mikel Arteta was a big help for him in turning his season around.
It still isn’t that long ago that Xhaka stormed off the Emirates Stadium pitch in that 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, with his Arsenal career looking dead and buried after that controversial moment.
Remarkably, the Switzerland international ended up staying at the club and has become a key player for new manager Arteta, who has also worked his magic on a number of other players in this squad.
Xhaka’s turnaround is perhaps the most impressive, however, and he puts it down to an early, honest conversation with Arteta when he first took over from Unai Emery.
“I have to smile a little bit because I am very, very happy to be back and to enjoy what I love the most: playing for this club and playing football,” he told the official site.
“I had a very, very good meeting with him [Arteta] three days after he came into this club. He told me a lot of things and I was very open with him and he was very open with me.
“And now we are here, we are both very happy to bring this club to where they have to be.”
This is great to hear, and Xhaka’s redemption could truly be one of the stories of this season.
“To his very best”. Is it to Arsenal standard?
how can we win the league if we keep this guy? Seriously we should sell him in the summer keep Torreira and get a bigger dm that is mobile xhaka just wont cut it hes been at the club for too long with to little contribution