Arsenal: Granit Xhaka a conundrum to solve or replace?

Granit Xhaka is certainly a conundrum at the heart of the Arsenal midfield. But is he a conundrum to solve or is he a conundrum to replace?

Granit Xhaka is a frustrating individual. He has plenty of the natural attributes that you would want in a deep-lying, distributing midfielder, has leadership qualities, is a good character in the dressing room, puts together the odd performance that exemplifies excellent midfield play, and was roundly recognised as one of the brightest, burgeoning conductors of European football when he arrived at Arsenal two years ago.

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And yet, for all that he has going for him, so rarely does he actually contribute as expected. He is certainly a scapegoat that the fans like to jump on, but even scapegoats must come from somewhere. There is a reason for the large dislike.

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His supporters claim that he is a conundrum to solve. Akin to the debate surrounding Mesut Ozil, the defence of Xhaka is that he isn’t played in the right position with the right players around him to flourish. There is some truth to that line of thinking — when Xhaka is comfortable, he has displayed the controlling, orchestrating influence at the heart of the midfield that he is capable of. But it also misses a little of the responsibility of his role: Xhaka, and players like Xhaka, are largely in the team to allow others to flourish, not the other way around.

Could it be, then, that instead of trying to solve the Xhaka conundrum, Arsenal should be looking to replace the very creation of the problem itself, that being Xhaka’s presence in the starting XI? It’s a very fair question to ask.

The stats — especially the defensive ones — certainly are somewhat concerning for Xhaka’s sake. From a nice piece on Sky Sports by Nick Wright, since the start of the 2017/18 season, Xhaka leads Arsenal in fouls, bookings, the number of times dribbled past, and tackles lost. He also averages only 4.4 sprints per 90 minutes, which is the fewest of any outfield player in the squad and is dwarfed by Lucas Torreira’s 7.1 sprints per 90 minutes.

And yet, and here is the kicker, Xhaka’s play in possession is invaluable to Arsenal’s ability to build and craft attacks from deep. Since the start of last season, he has made more passes into the final third than any other player in the Premier League. He has made 535. The next closest teammate is Mesut Ozil on 236.

Similarly, this season, Xhaka averages 14.6 passes into the final third, more than Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi combined. Additionally, since the start of last season, only four players have been involved in more open-play, goal-scoring moves than Xhaka — Kevin de Bruyne, Christian Eriksen, Mohamed Salah and Eden Hazard.

And so the debate continues to rumble on: Is Xhaka a liability to replace or a problem to solve? It’s a question that will likely be answered this season, but the jury, for now, is most certainly still out.