Arsenal: Character of Granit Xhaka doubles the prize

Granit Xhaka spoke up about his near-exit at Arsenal, and his statement reminds us how his upstanding character makes him twice the prize he already was as a midfielder.

Granit Xhaka was headed straight for a less then desirable exit following the debacle against Crystal Palace. Granted, I still hold Arsenal fans at least 50% responsible for what happened, but it’s Xhaka who lives in the spotlight, so it’s him who we talk about.

Nowadays, Xhaka has been very open about his time at the club since then. He’s spoken highly of the work Mikel Arteta did to keep him at the club and now, he has spoken more to his character as a player. He drew particular focus on how he is not the kind of person who runs away from problems.

Hence why he is still at the club, regaining his best form and an irreplaceable piece of this midfield set-up.

Hearing this is just another reminder that when you buy a guy like Granit Xhaka, you’re not just getting the excellent player that he is, but you’re getting the excellent person that he is too.

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And no matter what you want to say about how he handled everything against Crystal Palace, Xhaka has always proven to be an upstanding individual. Not just from his statements, but from his actions, and that includes what he does on and off the pitch.

He’s always the first guy to step up and defend his teammates, but he’s also the first guy to accept responsibility publicly when something goes wrong. He doesn’t shirk blame. He doesn’t go silent. So many players, after a poor performance either individually or as a team, disappear. They say nothing and they crawl into a hole.

Not Xhaka. Xhaka always addresses it, because clearly he believes that the fans deserve that much.

Not every player is like that. Which is fine, not everyone has that kind of character, nothing you can do about it. But the fact that Xhaka does have that bit of character is what makes him twice as valuable as just what you see on the pitch. You know he is always going to be there to speak to what happened on any given day and be honest and forthcoming about it.

You can’t teach good character. That much is certain. So it’s nice to know we have an abundance of it in this one man alone.