Is Xhaka Arsenal’s new Emmanuel Petit?

Arsene Wenger has moved to liken new Arsenal signing Granit Xhaka to Emmanuel Petit. The Swiss international joined the club prior to travelling to France to star for his country in the European Championships, and was credited with a Man of the Match performance for his role in the weekend’s 3-1 win over Watford.

Xhaka left Monchengladbach in a £34 Million deal, and Wenger has now revealed that he had already tried to land him seven months earlier.

“We tried already in December last year,” Wenger revealed.

“He has a good engine, good stature, he is good in the air and has a good balance in his game, he has a good short ball and a good long ball.

“He is 24 years old, he has already experience abroad and that is always a problem and is more reassuring when a player has already played abroad somewhere.

“He was captain at his age at Monchengladbach, that is not a small club so he has leadership qualities.

“He is a guy who plays naturally behind the ball, he is a bit similar to (Emmanuel) Petit in the way he plays football. He likes to sit, give good long balls and be available with the centre-backs.”

Xhaka no doubt has some qualities which can be hugely influential, and looks like he could even be given the captain’s armband in the very near future, having already captained former signed Monchengladbach in Germany.

Our club is used to having young players in and around the squad, and his leadership qualities should not be overlooked as we aim to challenge for the Premier League title.

Emmanuel Petit helped us to win a domestic double in his opening season, and we can only hope that his counterpart can lead us to similar successes.

Will Xhaka be able to emulate Petit and help us return to the top of the table? Could he be our next captain?

Tags Arsenal Petit Xhaka

44 Comments

  1. OT: I know it is rumor but in case if it is 10% true, Sturridge is linked with Arsenal.
    I want to know opinion of JustArsenal reader, will it make sense to buy him?

    1. i don’t think it will make any sense considering his injury records, we alredi hv a lot of players that goes into injury every season.

    2. Admin..this site doesn’t look right without our favorite botton…lets start a movement people….#BRINGBKTHE THUMBSBOTTON

      1. Agreed! ??

        Those who want the Thumbs Back, Thumb Up ?

        ???

        #BRINGBACK THE THUMBS
        #THUMBS IN# Wenger out ?

        1. There’s no need for it, in fact I see it as a form of bullying tactic used mainly by those who have hatred for the manager..
          Ppl should be free to express their view or feelings without any fear of a backlash from those who feel different

          1. Yes Yes .. I remember you crying when you first started commenting on here! ??

            “Why is everyone thumbing me down for?”
            “is it because of my name?”

            Admin – “maybe its something to do with being out of sync with the rest, son”

            Does that ring any Quasimoto sized Bells ?? ?

          2. Being bullied by a thumb! I’ve heard it all now, people need to get some cojones.

            As a matter of fact, don’t you think getting a written tongue lashing is a lot worse than a thumbs down. I used the thumbs down as usually the posts were so asinine I couldn’t be bothered to reply, I may have to now, so watch out world, here I come lol.

      2. @mobygunner
        I think it works just fine without the thumbs buttons. Makes all the juvenile trolls resort to discussing instead of neutralizing comments that don’t agree with them…Leave it as is I say.

    3. No, Sturridge is deadwood. He spends too much of time on the sidelines that you actually forget he ever existed. We have too many such players already. And I think we don’t need any other players till we get rid of existing ones. COYG!

  2. xhaka is good and I don’t want to compare him to any Arsenal legend. if he keeps on playing the way he did in our last game, I see him becoming a legend himself in Arsenal. I am loving the competition for places in the midfield, I hope our attack and defence becomes as good as the midfield with the new signings.

  3. Off topic but the people in the upper management of WBA are so stupid. You got a bid for £20m for Berahino from Stoke, just sell him. The guy has 1 goal in something like 29 league games.

    Overated!

    1. @HA559
      Saido is a want away player. He refuses to play for WBA. He does have skills, but just won’t produce where he’s at…We should swap him for Theo or Jack…

    2. agree. Nobody is ever going to pay more than 20mill for a striker that simply doesn’t play. West Brom are having a laugh this summer. They value Evans at 25mill, and won’t sell Berahino for 20mill. That’s the most expensive he’s going to get while riding bench!

  4. Xhaka will be an Arsenal rock, future Captain and fan favorite for as long as he strolls around the Emirates pitch.

    Even though a relative unknown and late bloomer to European football, I must concede that the clips I recently viewed(yeah I know it’s a YouTube highlight reel) on Lucas Perez were very impressive. Dynamic, full of face, technically proficient, the lad reminds me of a poor man’s David Villa and mirrors the direct, aggressive approach of Sanchez. His understanding of runs in behind the defense and willingness to take on players immediately makes him the second most dangerous player on the pitch.
    The million dollar question will be his ability to adapt to the physicality of the EPL. If he does, the lad could be quite the signing.

  5. Yes i think with his strenght and passes he is a complete DM.with him,cazorla and ozil i think this year our forward players will have a lot of ball to score.good luck to him and for our gunners.??????????

  6. admin :

    just an opinion i believe removing the ability to like or dislike a comment is a mistake.
    believe site loses a little of its appeal in doing this.

  7. except for during the years when we had to paid for the stadium and had to buy players gervinho,chamack,scillacci….i really trust wenger when it comes to buying a player ,compared to other managers he has a good record!!#bringbackthethumbs!!

  8. Change is inevitable. The reply button is fine but the thumbs up and down button should still remain. That’s why most people visit this site. Comment, read and like or dislike.

    1. @Uzil Ozil
      Like you said”change is inevitable”…This was change showing it’s inevitability…Adaptation is easier than you think.

    2. the thumbs were also a nice way to gauge general opinions too. This site loses something by having no thumbs.

      1. I agree. It was interesting to see how opinions changed with time. I started puting financial info in my comments and generally got thumbed down. After a while I started getting more thumbs up.

  9. I dont know about emulate Petit, Xhaka is my opinion is of the same mold as Coquelin they tend to hold their position on the pitch and very rearly get caught out of position Xhaka because of his passing is a slightly better player than Coquelin. Xhaka fragility will come when his line up against players who are prepared to run at him with the ball, he very rearly takes on these one on one chase back toward his goal, he rather foul the opposition player and pick up yellow cards instead.

    Elneny is a much better player than Xhaka in all aspects of the game, his more of the Arteta mold. His game is base on stamina, movement and attrition. Elneny tend to follow the ball all around the pitch in a defensive position, when the opposition keeper has the ball he tend to move up the pitch forcing his front 3 to move higher up preventing teams from building from the back he also drops right back forcing his two central defender wide enabling Arsenal to play from the back he also control the offensive flow of Arsenal game.

    I personally sees Elneny in terms of style of play as the best fit for Arsenal defensive position. I completely disagree with Mr Winger in spending 34 million in transfer fee and 120,000 in weekly wages on a player who is slightly better than Coquelin. I was hoping Elneny, Coquelin and Chambers would share that role.

    1. You compare Elneny to Arteta like it’s a good thing. Arteta was a makeshift DM, and a cheap alternative becuse Wenger didn’t want to find a a real CDM. FIrst of all, Elneny is way more offensive than Arteta. Second of all, Arteta’s main trait was his short passing. And it was nothing spectacular. Elneny does the same thing, but he’s in more advanced positions, so his short passes are next to pointless, and don’t advance the attack. Arteta’s were at least more for distribution purposes. Elneny is an okay player, but he’s nothing special. Xhaka has still only played 3 games, 2 starts. He has much more meaningful passes. Part of the reason he gets compared to Petit though is because he does his work partly without being noticed. He actually did a great job protecting the back 4 in both the games he started. Early signs are showing he’ll more way more instrumental than Elneny.

      1. Actually I think Xhaka is much closer to Arteta than Elneny. A much better version mind you but still similar. I don’t see the Elneny Arteta comparison at all. Or the Xhaka Coquelin comparison for that matter. My only concern with Xhaka is his tackling as it seemed in the Euros that quicker players could run rings around him. Hopefully he proves me wrong.

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