Granit Xhaka has been speaking to beIN SPORTS about Arsenal, and he shared some interesting comments about Mikel Arteta.
What’s the story?
Well, the Arsenal No.34 was glowing in his praise of the Spaniard, who he seems to hold in high regard.
Speaking to beIN SPORTS, Xhaka said: “How I see the game now is totally different than before. I’ve had a lot of coaches before Mikel, everyone has been different, but I think Mikel is much more different to everyone else.
“He is a freak, in a positive way! He sees football through different eyes.”
By the sounds of it, Arteta is another Pep Guardiola in the making.
The 39-year-old – who replaced Unai Emery in 2019 – has instilled a culture at the Emirates Stadium, where he hasn’t been afraid to make an example of people.
His treatment of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, club captain and also the highest earner, will have gone a long way to getting the message across.
Arteta has also overseen a youthful overhaul, where the likes of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe are thriving, and ageing players like Stephen Lichtsteiner are a thing of the past.
It was a rocky start to life in the dugout for Arteta, but he’s starting to show what he can do.
Xhaka comments show Arsenal were right to stick with Arteta
The Spaniard clearly has the respect of Xhaka, an important senior figure at Arsenal.
There have been many times where it would’ve been easy for the Gunners to hand Arteta his P45, mainly the embarrassing 5-0 defeat to Manchester City which put Arsenal bottom of the Premier League back in August.
However, there has been a strong show of faith in him, and it’s now starting to pay off.
Of course, it required huge patience from everybody – none more so than the supporters – although we can safely say Arsenal look in better shape for the long-term now than Manchester United and Tottenham do.
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