Arsenal: Will Patience Provide Clarity Granit Xhaka's Best Position?
Arsene Wenger has asked that Arsenal fans give Granit Xhaka patience, commenting on his role. Will patience reveal the Swiss’s best position?
The most competitive position within the Arsenal squad is central midfield. Before the summer, the Gunners already boasted the likes of Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey and Mohamed Elneny. One key addition threw a major spanner in the works.
Arsene Wenger was uncharacteristically deliberate in his transfer activity this summer, pursuing Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Granit Xhaka before the window even opened, eventually wrapping up a £35 million deal for who he thought would be the future of the midfield.
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Five games into his career in North London, though, Xhaka has found himself on the bench more than on the pitch, and while the media is rife with overreactions, his lack of starts is somewhat concerning. The concerns are so much so, that Wenger, in his pre-match press conference, had to ask for his patience with his new star midfielder:
“It’s not about his quality at the moment as he adapts to the pace of the English game. He has the stature, he has the power, he has the strength. What we want is to use that in a very efficient way. We are in September, we started in August so it’s one month. Many players take time to get into the team, but he will do that without any problem. I personally prefer him as a box-to-box player, because he has the engine, he has the power, he has the long pass. He likes to come deep and distribute the game, but he has the engine to have the impact with his runs.”
What is most unclear regarding the Xhaka situation is his prospective role. Many rightly believed that Arsenal needed a defensive, holding midfielder. It was, therefore, assumed that Xhaka would develop into that player. However, Coquelin has held onto his starting role (though his continual marauding runs forward need to stop) and Wenger has now stated that he sees Xhaka as a more box-to-box type player.
That leads me to ask, therefore, will patience in Xhaka’s development bring a greater understanding and definition with his role, or simply more appearances on the substitute bench?
Arsenal’s midfield paint a murky picture, and it is unclear what Wenger hopes will be his starting duo behind Mesut Ozil in the foreseeable future. It would be a surprise if the £35 million Xhaka is not one of the two, but will he be playing alongside Cazorla as a holding player or Coquelin as an engine. Wenger’s comments perhaps portray the latter. Only time will tell.
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