‘What a player’, ‘legend’: Lacazette and Elneny blown away by £35m Arsenal star after what happened this week
Two weeks ago, Granit Xhaka became just the 17th player in Arsenal‘s history to make 200 Premier League appearances for the club.
The Swiss international has been a revelation this season. He has been among Arsenal’s best players, and he’s one of the biggest reasons why they’re on top of the Premier League table.
Alexandre Lacazette and Gabriel Jesus react to Granit Xhaka’s Instagram post
A little over three years ago, Xhaka had a huge outburst against Arsenal fans at the Emirates. Almost everyone, including the midfielder himself, felt that his career as a Gunner was over.
Fast forward three years, the same Arsenal supporters are singing his name every single week. That’s an extraordinary turnaround, and he deserves immense praise for that.
Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the end of October was Xhaka’s 200th Premier League game for the club. Only 16 other Gunners players have done that over the last two decades.
This week, Arsenal awarded Xhaka a medal and a framed shirt with the number 200 on the back for his contribution to the club. He posted a picture of himself and the entire squad on Instagram, with a message saying: The best is yet to come.”
A number of Arsenal players – past and present – congratulated him by replying to the post.
Alexandre Lacazette and Nuno Tavares both wrote ‘Legend’, while Gabriel Jesus and Martinelli applauded him using emojis. Johan Djourou also sent a message to Xhaka, saying: “You are legendary!”
Mohamed Elneny wrote: “What a player!”
Our View:
Xhaka divided opinion among Arsenal fans since he joined them for £35 million (BBC) in 2016.
However, this season, every supporter agrees that he has been magnificent. The Swiss international has scored four goals already this campaign – more than he has in the last three seasons combined.
His runs into the final third are causing teams all sorts of problems, and he’s one of the biggest reasons why Arsenal have been so dangerous in attack since the start of the campaign.
Arsenal take on Wolves in the Premier League tonight and Xhaka is almost guaranteed to start. If he has a good game, the Gunners will likely pick up all three points.
