‘Who would’ve thought’… Pundit says Arsenal are actually missing £21m player now

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For years, Granit Xhaka was the biggest scapegoat at Arsenal.

The Swiss midfielder was seen as the root of a lot of Arsenal’s problems. He was supposedly inconsistent, ill-disciplined and rash, and many Gunners fans were fed up of him.

However, last season, Xhaka seemed to turn a corner and suddenly developed into one of the Premier League’s very best players.

After his best season at Arsenal, the Gunners sold Xhaka to Bayer Leverkusen in the summer for £21m, and it’s fair to say they may be regretting that decision.

Kai Havertz has come in to fill that void, and he really isn’t living up to expectations so far.

Speaking on the Premier League All Access Podcast, Scott Minto has been discussing Xhaka, and he says that, surprisingly, Arsenal are actually missing the midfielder.

Arsenal missing Xhaka

Minto spoke about the former Gunners captain.

“We mentioned Havertz there and there’s also Xhaka, who would’ve thought a couple of years ago that we’d be saying that Arsenal are missing Granit Xhaka? Again, I think Arsenal overachieved last season, not just in terms of results but performances, so to go again is not easy,” Minto said.

Not the same

We never thought we’d say this, but Arsenal genuinely are missing Xhaka.

The Gunners don’t have the same fluidity in midfield at the moment, and that’s because they don’t have that link player like Xhaka once was.

Nobody is playing those line-breaking passes anymore, and nobody is running with the ball from that left channel or arriving late in the box.

Xhaka was so important to Arsenal’s style last season, and he’s been replaced by a player in the shape of Kai Havertz who seemingly doesn’t know how to play that role.

Xhaka spent years being hounded by Arsenal fans, but now, they’d probably give anything to have him back at the club.