‘It’s unquestionable’: Arteta hails 28-year-old Arsenal star’s key quality

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta faced the media ahead of his side’s home game against Sheffield United on Sunday.

The Gunners are high on confidence after their win against Liverpool at Anfield last night. Bernd Leno’s heroics made the headlines, and rightly so, but the interesting talking point before the game was when Arteta handed the captain’s armband to Granit Xhaka.

The Swiss international was Arsenal’s skipper last season. Unai Emery held a mini election in the dressing room and Xhaka won the votes which earned him the captaincy.

Just a few months in, thing turned bad for the former Borussia Monchengladbach man. Xhaka had an outburst against the home supporters when he was substituted, and that cost him his captaincy.

Emery even left him out of the side for a few games, and it looked almost certain that Xhaka would leave in January. However, Arteta had different plans. The new Gunners boss convinced the 28-year-old to stay, and he has since been one of Arsenal’s most important players.

Arteta was asked about his decision to name Xhaka as the captain after everything that had happened before his arrival, and the Arsenal boss claimed that it was ‘a natural choice’.

He said: “I didn’t talk [to Xhaka beforehand]. I have to evaluate what happened since I joined. Obviously, I cannot deny the history but I have to follow my gut feeling. He is a leader, it’s unquestionable. He does it every day in training. He does it with the way he behaves himself, he does it with the way he competes, and for me, it was a natural choice.” (Arsenal.com)

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hector Bellerin weren’t in the squad and David Luiz was only on the bench. Xhaka was Arsenal’s most experienced player on the pitch, and his leadership helped them keep their first clean sheet at Anfield in eight years.

Aubameyang will return on Sunday and he will take the captain’s armband back. However, Xhaka will still remain a leader and his qualities on the pitch are necessary for this fairly young Arsenal squad.