Granit Xhaka named Arsenal’s best player of 2021 (so far)

Granit Xhaka has been named as Arsenal’s best player of 2021 so far by the CIES Football Observatory, who developed a unique methodology to determine who performed best irrespective of position.

Interestingly, Granit Xhaka was overlooked by his club for the January Player of the Month award, included in February’s listing and then omitted from the running for the March gong.

So where has this come from?

The CIES Football Observatory specialise in this sort of thing, even if some of the results sometimes can be fairly controversial as they don’t conform to most fans’ viewpoints – Thiago was the highest ranked at Liverpool, for example.

https://twitter.com/CIES_Football/status/1376511962385842186

Granit Xhaka named Arsenal’s best player of 2021 by CIES Football Observatory

As stated by the CIES, they use an algorithm based off of almost every facet of the sport. You name it, they use it.

"“Several stages are necessary to analyse the technical performance of players in a pertinent manner.”"

And, interestingly, that has resulted in Xhaka top scoring in 2021 for Arsenal with an 80.9/100 overall score. He’s ranked seventh in the Premier League compared to other clubs’ top performers.

Has he earned it?

Bukayo Saka has won the Player of the Month award for January and February, with nobody particularly surprised or objected to the decision. Outstanding form from the 19-year-old was pivotal in the Gunners’ upturn in form, scoring three goals and registering an assist in January alone.

However all throughout the turn of the year, Xhaka has remained ever-present. Starting 21 matches in 85 days and completing the 90 minutes in all but two of them is a remarkable feat. There is always the caveat of it being a less physically demanding position and therefore easier to manage, but the point remains that it’s an unbelievable amount of minutes to play with minimal turnover time.

Most importantly, though, he’s been extremely impressive during that time. Yes there have been blips in there, as is the player the Swiss is, but as an overall package Arsenal would’ve been lost without him.

No need banging on about his well-documented limitations, the truth is that if Xhaka hadn’t been available for that run of fixtures Arsenal’s season could’ve already been over. Not an exceptional talent, he nonetheless has played a role nobody else in the squad can fulfill to his standard.

Has he been the best player of 2021 for Arsenal? Maybe not. He’s certainly been underappreciated, however.