Arsenal: Granit Xhaka Fills Vieira Sized Hole

The hole left in Arsenal’s midfield by Patrick Vieira has been vacant for over a decade, but the addition of Granit Xhaka may be the piece that solves it.

It’s April 25th, 2004, a Sunday that will go on to forever warm the hearts of Arsenal supporters everywhere. Patrick Vieira, Arsenal’s captain and center midfielder, lines up next to the likes of Gilberto Silva, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, and Thierry Henry.

As he awaits the starting whistle, Arsenal’s North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur prepare to play spoiler to a so far unbeaten season. Three minutes into the game, Arsenal’s legendary captain slides in one of the most important goals in the team’s history. After going 1-0 up, the game finished in a 2-2 draw, with the solitary point gained enough to clinch the league title at Tottenham’s home field, White Hart Lane.

The season would go on to finish unbeaten and that Arsenal team would forever be known to the footballing world as The Invincibles.

Fast forward to the end of the 2004/2005 season as Vieira departs to Juventus and leaves a vacuum in the Arsenal midfield that would last for a decade.

Arsenal has had many world class midfielders since then and just as many failed experiments. However, what they have not had, is another highly technical, robust, rock of a box-to-box center midfielder of Viera’s ilk.

(Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) /

In the era from Vieira’s departure until now there have been some great midfielders to wear the kit: Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri (I know), and now Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey, just to name a few. The fortunate pattern of having highly skilled midfielders as named above is encouraging, however, there is an unfortunate pattern of a lack of midfield enforcement and solidity.

During the past decade, Arsenal has tried many combinations to replace Vieira. Some were serviceable and quite important, others not so much. A few examples of these midfielders were Abou Diaby; who spent more time injured than not in nine years at the club.

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There was Mikel Arteta; an incredibly important addition to the team at the time of signing who played out of position and well past his prime just to provide a serviceable level of coverage in the midfield but ultimately an average player. Then there was Mathieu Flamini (twice); a yellow card machine who provided some level of defensive coverage often at the detriment of the squad. Finally, Kim Kallstrom; a highly talented Swedish midfielder who was signed on a loan deal despite having a broken back because that’s how dire the squad was at the time.

The cartoonish dark rain cloud hovering over Arsenal’s midfield is now, hopefully, a thing of the past. The current state of the midfield behind Mesut Ozil is as robust and talented as it has been since the days of Vieira and Gilberto.

The final piece of the puzzle in rebuilding Arsenal’s midfield is the signing of Granit Xhaka. The beginning of the current state of the midfield began with the emergence of Francis Coquelin as not only a viable option but also a vital one in the midfield.

Coquelin came into the midfield after being recalled from his loan to Charlton due to desperation caused by a multitude of injuries. Within a few games he was the first name on the team sheet and supporters shuddered to think of the consequences if he were to go down injured.