Arsenal: Granit Xhaka was always good enough, but some fans weren’t

Arsenal fans will still cling to this erroneous belief that Granit Xhaka was never good enough for their club, but turns out it was them who weren’t good enough.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Granit Xhaka fiasco is ongoing. It’s unclear what Arsenal plan to do with him moving forward, though an immediate transfer has seemingly been ruled out. Not to mention the players reaffirming that they stand with Xhaka, which means that they don’t stand with the fans.

There are still people out there who believe that the actions taken against Xhaka were justified solely because Xhaka “was never good enough for this club.” Which I still can’t any creature with a brain would say.

Xhaka hasn’t only been good enough for the club, he’s been vital to the club, as attested to by two very different managers, including the best manager to ever grace this club. You don’t stick with a player out of curiosity, or out of a loyalty to him. And Wenger never did. Yet he stuck with Xhaka.

Why? Because he was good enough. And this goes hand-in-hand with what happened with Olivier Giroud, though it never went as far with the Frenchman.

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For so many years, fans berated Giroud for not being fit to wear the Arsenal shirt. Yet the same goes with him—these were just angry, petulant fans unable to accept their own lot in life, so they redirect that pent up frustration on something entirely out of their control. And maybe that isn’t the case with every “fan,” but it’s definitely the case with some. This has nothing to do with a player being good enough or not, it has everything to do with the fans not being good enough for their players.

I don’t care what you think about the way a guy plays, but you still have to be able to recognize talent when you see it. Even if it’s not the kind of talent you would prefer. If you think he’s slow, that’s fine. If you wish he was a more active midfielder, great. But this is a guy carrying international acclaim, heralded by some of the best in the business, but please tell me why John Doe, a career electrician, knows more about it than anyone else.

Here’s a fun fact, I’ve always struggled with Mesut Ozil being at the club. But I would never question his abilities, or say that he wasn’t good enough for the club. Nor would I personally attack his wife, for God’s sake.

Before you start demanding that players “be better,” try being better yourself. And yes, that includes not yelling at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang when he’s driving down the road.