“He has won everybody’s trust again” Arteta convinced player has the fans backing 

Mikel Arteta has backed Granit Xhaka to complete his Arsenal career turnaround when the fans return.

The Swiss midfielder fell out with the club’s fans late last year after he swore at them while being booed off the pitch.

That act cost him the Arsenal captaincy, and it very nearly cost him his Arsenal career as well.

He was on the verge of leaving the club in the last transfer window, but when Arteta became the club’s manager, he convinced the midfielder to remain with the Gunners.

Xhaka has since turned his Arsenal career around with some fine performances since the new year, and as fans might return to the stadiums before the end of the year, Arteta has backed Xhaka to continue his redemption.

He hailed the midfielder as one committed player in his team and insisted that he always knew the midfielder was a good player even before he became the club’s boss.

He explained as quoted by Mail Sports: ‘For a football player when you are on the pitch and you feel you have the fans supporting and you feel their love, it gives you an immense amount of energy and drive. Hopefully, he can enjoy that when the fans are back in our stadium.’

Arteta added: ‘People know better than me what happened and how much it affected all sides when that issue occurred. When I arrived here I had a very high opinion of him and knew him really well.

‘I had to convince him he had a future, he had a place here and he could enjoy his career and his family could be happy here.

‘He is a player that when he commits he goes 100 per cent. He has worked really hard and he has won everybody’s trust again. 

‘I think he’s started to enjoy it again and, normally, when you have those two aspects together – that’s when players perform at the highest level.’

Tags Granit Xhaka Mikel Arteta

13 Comments

  1. Good for an average club, average for a good club.
    Depends on each one, how he/she perceives the club.
    Would he walk into ManU or CFC or even Leicester? The 100% at Arsenal will not equal 50% of Liverpool, that is why the gap of 43 points between the winners and us.
    It is left for the club to decide their future either as a mid table cup team or EPL/ European tile contender.Accordingly then we can rate our outfield players (Auba, Pepe, Gaby, Tierny being exceptions who can walk into any team across the continent. Did I miss out someone? Oh yes, its Mesut Ozil who can walk into any Sunday league team across the globe)

    1. Glad you said Ozil could “walk” into a Sunday league club. HE IS GOOD AT WALKING; shame that doesn’t apply toPROPER running, which he doesn’t do. NOT EVER!

      THE OCCASIONAL SLOW JOG THOUGH, TO FOOL THE WILFULLY BLIND FEW REMAINING DIEHARDS WHO STILL WET THEIR PANTS OVER HIM!

  2. It seems as if we haven’t watched the same games. Xhaka’s recent performances weren’t the performances of an average player. How about we give the guy a go at getting even better?

  3. With these kind of players that you overrate, we gonna be fighting relegation next. Xhaka, Ozil, Torreira and Mustafi dont deserve to start any Arsenal games under current performances

  4. So I don’t trust him and never will. He’s not the right man in midfield. Yes, he makes fewer mistakes than before the break, but I have never seen a single game at Arsenal in which he was outstanding. He’s a good player when I want to play ninety minutes of back and side passes, but he’s just too slow and sloppy for anything else. His position is so central in a team. And this is where the difference is made between a very good team and a mediocre team. As long as this position is not improved in terms of quality, Arsenal will not compete for CL positions. Xhaka is the slowest player on this position in the whole PL and a main reason why we are no longer a dominant team. Take a close look at the teams in front of us in this position and then say again that he has good games. At best, he has unremarkable games. I would like to see another good central defender and two really agile, fast-moving midfielders for the new season. Be happy with Xhaka, but don’t expect miracles.

  5. If you have two apples while the top kids have ten each and then you double your own apples, you then still have only a measly four while the top kids still have ten. That analogy sums up Xhaka for me. It is not how much you improve that matters when the fact remains that even after your improvement you are not remotely good enough.

    I have a reputation on here for plain speaking, when in fact all I DO IS CONSTANTLY POINT OUT THE PLAIN AND CLEAR TRUTH, which certain others refuse to see. It is called wilful blindness, which some of us hoped had disappeared with Wengers removal.

    1. If we want to stay in midtable, then he is your man. We have never controlled midfield while he has been at Arsenal. Some people are just plain blind. He is the reason we are so weak in midfield, he controls nothing.

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