‘I WANT TO’: Patrice Evra says he has to give £30m Arsenal player a shout-out for what he has done so far this season
Patrice Evra has told Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel that he has give a lot of credit to Granit Xhaka after the midfielder’s turnaround at Arsenal this season.
The Gunners are producing big performances all over the pitch this term. Picking out a player of the season is going to be an incredibly tough challenge with Mikel Arteta’s men on pole position to win the Premier League title.
One player who is going to go under the radar in comparison to some of his teammates is Xhaka. The Swiss has rightly been receiving plaudits for his performances this season
Evra praises Xhaka
But it remains remarkable just to think about how far Xhaka has come over the last couple of years. At one stage, it was hard to imagine the 30-year-old playing for Arsenal again. In fact, that probably happened on a few occasions.
But he has been outstanding for much of the last 18 months. And he has taken his game to another level this season.
He has thrived in the more advanced role which has come about with Thomas Partey proving to be much more reliable this term.
Evra has previously told a story of Thierry Henry turning the television off when he saw Xhaka as Arsenal captain. And with that, he made sure to praise the midfielder for the form he has shown this season.
“I want to have a shout-out to Xhaka because I remember he used to be booed at the stadium. And even, I told that story when I watching Henry call me and say: ‘Patrice, we are going to watch the game’. I say: ‘I can’t watch Arsenal’. I remember he turned on the TV, and he sees Xhaka with the armband, he turned off the TV,” he told Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel.
“You need to give credit to those players, because that’s when they showed they’ve got character. I know we’re talking a lot about Partey, but I want to say a big, big [shout-out] to Xhaka.”
Xhaka has silenced many of his doubters this season. He did deserve a lot of the criticism he received from honest fans and pundits during his first few years at the Emirates.
He did make mistakes. And he really did cost his team on a number of occasions.
Obviously, it needs saying that some of the criticism crossed a line and went way too far.
But Arsenal fans were given reason to never believe that Xhaka had this turnaround in the locker. He is now looking like a £30 million player at long last.
And he is playing a vital role as Arsenal’s possible march to the title continues to gain momentum.
