Arsenal: Granit Xhaka has been in this exact position before

Arsenal fans are going at Granit Xhaka for being inadequate again, but he’s been here before. And chances are, he’ll react the same.

Arsenal are having another Granit Xhaka crisis and, this time, I’m on board. This time, he isn’t looking like a functional member of the team and, as much as this pains me to say, he really needs to take a seat until a time arises that he can be a more productive member of the team.

And, naturally, their are so many Gooners out there calling for Xhaka’s head. They want him sold yesterday and are reasserting that he is average at best, and has no future with the club, because they are, of course gifted in foresight as well.

But we’ve been here before. When Xhaka first arrived, there were questions regarding his viability within the club. He had some issues. He lashed out too often, put himself in disciplinary problems, lost the ball too often and didn’t contribute much defensively.

Less than two years later, he was completely different. He was second on the team in assists, he was top three in every defensive category, he was the most secure player over the ball and he had really cut down on the disciplinary problems.

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He had improved. And this is where you have to draw the line with anyone out there that is saying he has never improved. They are plain wrong, and you can tell them I said so, and if they have any issues, I’m happy to talk to them about it. Because he did improve. That is not even debatable. He improved a lot.

From the age of 23 to 25, he went from liability to one of the chief cogs in the Arsenal machine. The numbers back it up, the footage backs it up. He had some slip ups, but don’t we all.

Now he finds himself in a similar situation where he has to adjust and improve to be a more viable member of the Unai Emery era. It won’t be easy, just like it wasn’t easy the first time. But rather than rip and tear and him and demand that he go away, shouldn’t we be rooting for him to push through and improve in new ways, just like he did last time?

Hell, if he can improve the same way he did last time, then we are looking at an elite midfielder before he even hits his prime. That sounds a lot better than “blah blah blah sell him, I hate him blah blah blah.”

This is a guy who has shown a capacity to improve in major ways and relatively quickly. So why wouldn’t fans root for that rather than root for his immediate disposal? It’s a stupid question, I shouldn’t even have to ask.