Arsenal: Mesut Ozil in the same boat as Granit Xhaka

Arsenal have a lot of specialty players, and that will only get more obvious. Meaning that Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil have a decision to make.

I have often referred to Mesut Ozil as a luxury player. When you can accommodate his needs, you get the benefit of a player that does one specific thing incredibly well – he creates. Arsenal haven’t always been able to accommodate those needs, but when they do, it’s magical.

You can’t expect much more out of him than what he is capable of giving, but sometimes it is worth the wait and worth the potential frustration.

Ozil isn’t alone, though. I would also call Granit Xhaka a bit of a luxury player as well, although he is still young enough to change that, and potentially develop additional skills, which we already saw him do last year. He learned to tackle better, control the ball, not lash out, etc.

But still, these two players find themselves in the same boat, with an important decision to be made. They have two options, they can either rediscover themselves and reinvent who they are as players, or they can become so irreplaceable with the one thing that they do do incredibly well that they retain their place.

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Both are passers. Neither is very athletic, nor are they the type to maraud about the pitch, influencing the game in monumental ways. They have their spotlight moments, and Xhaka in particular is used to controlling a lot of touches, but in the new set-up, neither of these two guys has the benefit of just staying where they are as players.

Neither was that promising against Manchester City and neither figures to be very promising in any similar matches with the new philosophy within the club. Hence the decision that needs to be made – reinvention or fine-tuning.

Regardless of which, one or the other has to happen. Because as it stands, I’m not getting the sense that either will be long for the Unai Emery set-up. Not when he is starting to build a much more movement-centric team right under their noses.

This is a good thing. Both possess the capacity to improve, which they will have to do. Both possess the capacity to learn new things, which they may have to do. And, most importantly, both are hungry and underappreciated, which is always added motivation, especially in unsure times, which the club is currently in.

I, for one, am excited to see what happens with these two.