The Resurrection of Granit Xhaka

Granit Xhaka is like Marmite, that spread made from yeast that divides the English into those who hate it and those who love it.

There are no half measures.

Either you love it or you can't stand it.

Garth Crooks, a Tottenham Hotspur striker in the first half of the 1980s, is among those who can't stand the player.

“I don't like Granit Xhaka.

I find it controversial, overly aggressive and absolutely irritating.

Although I have to admit that at the moment he is a very good player, he should have left Arsenal ”, Crooks opined just a few weeks ago.

José Mourinho, who tried to take him to Roma, said in an interview that Arsenal "will only recognize his worth when he's gone."

Patrick Vieira, star of the great Arsenal of

, has pointed out him as the player who most resembles him "because he does all the important things that are not seen".

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Arsenal is serious and consolidates its leadership in the Premier

There was a time when precisely doing these things was very expensive for Xhaka because the team did not work as hard as it should and when he tried to go where others did not bother to go, he used to arrive late and badly, which It has cost a few yellow cards and some red.

Between that and character, good or bad but always strong, it's enough to get an idea of ​​Granit Xhaka's bad reputation.

Many see the origin of his character in the tribulations of the family.

Granit's father, a Kosovar Albanian Muslim, spent more than three years in jail for demonstrating in 1986 against the Belgrade government in defense of the rights of the Albanian minority.

When the father was released from prison, the Xhakas went into exile in Switzerland, where Granit would be born in 1992. His father's experience, he once explained in the Guardian, "is definitely part of my character, it has made me a more strong: I never run away from anything.”

Swiss by birth but Kosovar by heart and blood, Granit Xhaka arrived at Arsenal in May 2016 at the age of 22, with two Swiss league titles with Basel and four seasons at Borussia Moenchengaldbach, where he finished as captain and in the team of the year. of the Bundesliga.

At Arsenal, where their demanding fans were fed up with Arsène Wenger's soft teams, incapable of winning the league since the 2003-04 season, they received him as the great white hope, as the man of indomitable character who was going to inject blood and fighting spirit in a squad always of immense quality and always disappointing in the big moments.

Xhaka put a lot of character into it.

, as he himself says that he sometimes lacks the team.

Perhaps too many.

The idyll did not last long and the divorce between the fan and the player became official on October 27, 2019, when Xhaka took off his shirt and threw it on the ground and shouted to the public what he thought of them as a reaction to the whistle he received at the be replaced.

Arsenal led 2-0 before 10 minutes but Crystal Palace came from behind to earn a draw.

Unai Emery, who had replaced Wenger on the Emirates bench, stripped him of his captaincy and suspended him for a month.

Disowned by the fans, punished by the coach, Granit Xhaka listened to the offer that Hertha Berlin had sent him to return to Germany in the winter market and was determined to leave when Mikel Arteta called him, who just a few days ago who had replaced Emery.

They had a long conversation hand in hand.

A therapeutic session lasting several hours that ended with the decision to give himself a new opportunity.

A first step for a resurrection that has been embodied in recent weeks, with Arsenal as the leader and the fans chanting the name of the player he whistled for three years ago.

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