Speaking on the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel, Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira has been waxing-lyrical about Granit Xhaka.
The Crystal Palace boss was asked to name which Premier League player reminds him most of himself during his playing days, and Xhaka’s name cropped up alongside N’Golo Kante and Fabinho.
While Xhaka can come under a lot of criticism at times, Vieira had nothing but good things to say about the Swiss international, claiming that his contribution to the team aren’t spoken about enough.
What’s been said?
Vieira had praise for Kante and Xhaka.
“I like Kante, Kante is a modern holding midfielder, but he can go forward, he’s a box-to-box player, he can be dangerous going forward, but he works hard for the team as well,” Vieira said.
“Xhaka at Arsenal, I think he is a team player, he’s someone you may not notice a lot, you don’t mention his name a lot, but he’s doing really hard work for the team.”
Not given the credit
Vieira is absolutely right about Xhaka, he’s not given the credit he deserves at times when he’s playing well for Arsenal.
Perhaps it’s because it’s become something of a running trend to critique Xhaka every week or because his abilities can sometimes go under the radar as he’s not much of a flair player, but Xhaka isn’t spoken about enough as one of the best midfielders in the league.
This season in particular Xhaka has been faultless, and while he’s received plenty of praise this time around, the midfielder still deserves more respect from the wider footballing world.
If Patrick Vieira rates you as a midfielder, you must be doing something right.
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