Arsenal: 12 Granit Xhaka transfer replacements

Teun Koopmeiners – AZ Alkmaar

A 23-year-old being captain? You don’t get to that stage so quickly without a little something about you. Thus, welcome Teun Koopmeiners, a Dutchman with everything Arsenal could want in a midfielder.

Primarily, goals.

He doesn’t play like someone who is 23 (possibly because he also doesn’t look it) with a wand of a left foot and an experienced, almost Nemanja Matic-esque manner with which he covers the ground. And yes, that does mean he isn’t especially quick.

However he more than makes up for that with delivery better than a Game of Thrones raven, sitting in the 95th percentile for through balls and in the 99th percentile for xA.

While he’s grabbed a healthy 15 Eredivisie goals this season, nine of them came from the penalty spot, however, this is someone who has played centre-back numerous times this season as well. In some ways he is reminiscent of the Xhaka mould, only faster speed of thought in releasing the ball, while he does resemble fellow countryman Kevin Strootman during his prime at Roma when he was a deadly box-to-box operator.

With two years left on his deal, this is prime buying time. If he was quicker, as Arsenal should be looking for dynamism and mobility in midfield, he’d be a shoo-in.