Arsenal: Third time’s a charm for Granit Xhaka, yeah?

Granit Xhaka will be entering his third year with Arsenal, and while he still hasn’t won everyone over, the third year should do the trick.

From the moment Arsenal signed Granit Xhaka, I knew exactly what his career here was going to look like and, thus far, it has been pretty easy to follow. He was a specialist, playing a complex role, and as such, he was going to fail.

Hard.

And fail he did. That first year was rough. The positives were there, but the negatives were there in bigger abundance. He was slow, ill-disciplined, couldn’t tackle, shot too much – it was just annoying.

Yet hidden underneath that was the passing, the intelligence, the hint of something better. Some of us saw it. Not many, but some.

Last year, you could see the improvements. You still can, if you go back and watch. Towards the second half, those problems, the mental lapses, the poor tackles, they all but disappeared. Improvement is all you can ask for out of a player. As long as they are getting better, then what can you actually say?

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That you don’t like who they are as a player?

Xhaka keeps improving. After the first year, he shook the disciplinary problems, improved his tackling, stopped shooting so much. After the second year, he continued those improvements while adding better ball control, more composure, even better passing.

This third year is set up as the year that could define his stay here at the Emirates. If his trajectory continues, he will be a mainstay in that starting XI, and a constant presence in any given game. He has worked his way up to this point.

There is always that chance that it doesn’t pan out, but thus far into his career, it has been steady improvements with brief lapses.

If fans aren’t wooed by Xhaka after a third year – a successful third year, that is – then there is no saving them. But I’m not too worried about it, because after this year, where he contributes ten assists, has the support he needs and is able to be himself, along with all the skills he has developed.

This is not just another ‘Xhaka gush piece.’ This is a warning – be prepared to run out of excuses not to like Xhaka. It’s just that time.