Saturday 18 March 2017 12:28, UK
Granit Xhaka was supposed to give Arsenal a new dimension but the jury is still out on the midfielder, writes Adam Bate.
Arsenal supporters would have anticipated interest in their star players but when talk emerged of Bayern Munich preparing a bid, the identity of the target might have been a surprise. According to former manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, they are watching Granit Xhaka.
"Bayern Munich certainly have Xhaka on the radar," Hitzfeld told Bild. "Xhaka is always an interesting topic of conversation for current top clubs and his development is not yet completed." For Arsenal fans, that would seem like an understatement.
When the Gunners paid £35m for Borussia Monchengladbach's captain, the expectation was that the player could make an instant impact. A couple of man-of-the-match awards at Euro 2016 only added to the belief that they had acquired a difference-maker in midfield.
"I think he will have a huge impact," said Arsene Wenger in September. "He has the engine, the power, the long pass. What we want to do is use that in an efficient way." Xhaka promptly scored in each of his next two games, including a hammer of a strike against Hull.
Mesut Ozil spoke of his "positive energy" while Per Mertesacker described him as "the perfect signing" and a player who could "set the tempo" for the whole team. As recently as January, Francis Coquelin said that his midfield partner was "a complete player".
![Granit Xhaka's long passing is a feature of his game for Arsenal [Premier League stats as at March 16th 2017]](https://e0.365dm.com/17/03/768x432/granit-xhaka-arsenal-stats_3910339.jpg?20170315192205)
Some of Xhaka's qualities have indeed caught the eye. His range of passing is impressive and the ability to switch the play with raking balls to the flank is a rare one at the Emirates. He has hit almost twice as many successful long passes as any other Arsenal player this season.
That is something Wenger wanted to add in the summer. His targeting of Jamie Vardy and the subsequent signing of Lucas Perez was a recognition of the need for his team to at least have the option of being able to get in behind defences with greater speed.
But Wenger was far from committed to a change in style and the onus was always going to be on Xhaka to adapt. In fact, there was some confusion over his role. Having earlier described Xhaka as a box-to-box midfielder, by November, Wenger had changed his mind.
"He's more a deep playmaker I think than a box-to-box player," he said. "He does not get into the final third of the opposition half a lot. He is more a guy who has a fantastic pass to play through the lines. He gets the ball from the defenders and finds the high midfield."
But he also gets sent off. Red cards at home to Swansea and Burnley almost cost the club Premier League points and while Wenger said after the first of those that intelligence means not making the same mistake twice, Xhaka has been booked in each of his last five games.
Mohamed Elneny was preferred alongside Coquelin in August and it was not until December that Xhaka got a run of games. Wenger spoke of the need to adapt not only to Arsenal's style of play but also the "tactical pace" of the English game. Even training has been tricky.
"You notice it already in training, not just the games," Xhaka admitted. "In games, you notice there's more sprints than in Bundesliga. It takes a while to get used to. It's quicker and more physical, that separates it from the other major leagues in Europe."
Question marks over his mobility have emerged and there are times when Arsenal have looked exposed with him in a midfield two. More recently, Wenger has turned to the trio of Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to share the responsibilities around.
But the use of that midfield three has only been possible because of Ozil's absence. If the mercurial playmaker were to return to the team - or more pertinently, return to form and pen a new deal - then Arsenal would expect to go back to their long-favoured 4-2-3-1.
It is one thing to adjust the tactics to accommodate Ozil, but quite another to change the system to get the best from a player who was supposed to be able to thrive precisely because of his all-round qualities. Does Xhaka's ability even justify a tweaking of the tactics?
There is still time. He is only 24, after all, a younger man that fellow left-footed midfielder Jack Wilshere, the player he was ostensibly brought into the squad to replace. But for now, Bayern's purported interest is more of a curiosity than a confirmation of his class.
Xhaka has some interesting qualities, some of which Arsenal lack. But putting it all together is proving a challenge and it seems there is work to do for him to convince Wenger or anyone else that he can be part of the solution at Arsenal rather than the problem.
