Arsenal: Jean Michael Seri enlightens betwixt and between Granit Xhaka

Arsenal are in the process of re-tooling their squad. But in midfield, Granit Xhaka is stuck betwixt and between. Jean Michael Seri does, however, enlighten the issue a little.

I do believe that where Unai Emery sees Granit Xhaka playing next season will have a major influence on Arsenal’s transfer dealings of the club.

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The midfielder has primarily featured as a defensive midfielder during his two years at the club. Arsene Wenger liked the deep-lying distribution that the Swiss international offered, seeing his piercing passes into the final third as a major advantage for the team’s attacking play. But fielding Xhaka in a defensive midfield role had its compromises.

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His lack of sense of danger, his tendency to fall to sleep at crucial moments, his failure to track simple runs, his over-eager tackling style, though this has significantly improved. They have, on an alarming number of occasions, led directly to goals and chances for opposing teams. It is difficult to have a capable shielding, screening anchoring midfielder who lacks these fairly basic qualities. So then, why not push him into a slightly more advanced role alongside a defensive-minded option?

Well, the problem, simply, is that Xhaka doesn’t offer enough. He is extremely neat and tidy in possession when he has time and space to pick his head up and survey the field. But he will not be afforded such opportunities in more advanced positions. He is slow, immobile, lacks agility and balance. His shooting is wayward and inconsistent, even if he strikes one beautifully every now and then, and he is not all that creative. His passing is more metronomic, which is important, but in a deeper role.

And so we come to the dilemma: Out of possession, Xhaka is far better suited to a slightly more advanced, box-to-box role; in possession, Xhaka is far better suited to a slightly deeper, anchoring role. He falls betwixt and between.

Where Emery sees him as being best, then, I believe will have a major impact on the potential recruits that Arsenal target this summer. There are few who would deny that the Gunners need investment in midfield, but most would suggest that to come in the form of a bulldozing, game-breaking holding midfielder. But thus far, Arsenal have only been heavily linked with one midfielder, someone who is very much not that.

Jean Michael Seri of Nice is a very tidy, energetic, intelligent and rounded midfielder. He can play in a variety of roles and systems, he is excellent in possession, and he is athletic without the ball, galloping across the pitch, winning tackles, making interceptions, and forcing turnovers of possession. But he is not a defensive midfielder.

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And so we come back to the Xhaka conundrum. Is he a box-to-box midfielder who isn’t good enough in possession or is he a defensive midfielder who isn’t good enough out of possession? The Seri links suggest that Emery believes the latter. For now, however, Xhaka is betwixt and between, and that is concerning for all involved.