Arsenal selling £20m star who clashed with Gunners fans left Micah Richards gutted

Few could have foreseen the 2023/24 season being the best of Granit Xhaka's career.

The Swiss midfield veteran, coming off the back of a stellar individual season and a deep but ultimately failed title charge with Arsenal in 2022/23, appeared to be taking a step down when he joined Bayer Leverkusen last summer. Xhaka returned to Germany for a mere £21million, aged 30 and seemingly set for a dog-fight for the European spots.

That couldn’t have been further from the reality as Xhaka, under the tutelage of Xabi Alonso, played a critical role in one of the greatest club seasons of all time. He ended last season lifting the Bundesliga trophy, the first ever in Leverkusen’s history, and the DFB-Pokal while going unbeaten domestically and losing just one game throughout the entire campaign.

It was a bittersweet feeling for many Arsenal fans to see their former player enjoy such success elsewhere. Gunners supporter and former Manchester City defender Micah Richards has now admitted he was one of those who rued the 31-year-old’s departure at the time.

Richards said on The Rest Is Football podcast: “Xhaka, when he left Arsenal, I was absolutely devastated because I knew how important he could be to a team. Okay, he got a lot of red cards and he was a target at times, but he was so good, especially when he was playing a bit more offensive for Arsenal at times.”

Xhaka’s Arsenal career can be divided into three parts - the chaos, the comeback and the fan favourite. The Basel-born midfielder arrived at the Emirates Stadium in May 2016 for £30m, becoming their third most expensive signing.

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Fans were instantly underwhelmed as their team missed out on Premier League winner N’Golo Kante to rivals Chelsea for a similar fee. Then-manager Arsene Wenger, highlighting his best attributes, said at the time: “I prefer Xhaka as a box-to-box midfielder, he has the stature, power and engine to make an impact with his runs.”

Yet it would take six years for Arsenal to utilise him in that role. Xhaka played the majority of his games as a lone anchor and a deep-lying playmaker, or in a double pivot. He was able to win the FA Cup in his first season under Wenger.

But his arrival coincided with an otherwise turbulent period in which Arsenal were repeatedly battered by the likes of City and Liverpool, fell out of the Champions League places and entered their so-called ‘banter era’. Xhaka was frequently left isolated and overrun in midfield, with the team’s poor displays mirroring the mess upstairs as the likes of Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat were brought in.

Unai Emery’s open and hectic style did little to help Xhaka, who didn’t endear himself to fans due to his lapses in concentration and reputation for ill-discipline. From his arrival until the end of 2021/22, he made the most errors leading to goals out of any other outfield player in the Premier League, being sent off four times and conceding more penalties (six) than anyone else.

The tense relationship between the player, controversially made captain by Emery a month earlier, and the N5 faithful severed completely in an infamous incident in October 2019. Having let a 2-0 lead slip to Crystal Palace, Emery, on the brink of being sacked, substituted Xhaka off deep in the second half.

Ugly scenes followed as he was met with cheers and jeers by his own frustrated fans, before angrily waving his arms at the home crowd, cupping his ears and swearing, before rejecting Emery’s handshake and storming down the tunnel.

It was strongly debated whether he would ever play for Arsenal again, let alone become a cult hero. But with Mikel Arteta’s arrival, Xhaka was given a fresh start and another lifeline.

Having been taken out of the firing line with Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang appointed captain, Xhaka quietly went about his less burdensome role in midfield. Game by game, he regained the trust of supporters and won the FA Cup again in the Spaniard’s first season in charge.

He tucked in at left-back while Kieran Tierney was allowed to bomb forwards, protecting him from mistakes in the centre of the pitch. But he truly hit his stride with the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko in 2022, which allowed him to roam forwards on the left third of the pitch in a far more advanced role.

Thriving in a well-oiled Arsenal machine for once, the rarely-injured Xhaka defended well and contributed to build-up. Yet it was his 16 goal involvements (nine goals, seven assists) which caught the eye.

The Swiss played like a man having the time of his life, often seen with a smile on his face as the Gunners faithful began to appreciate his experience and commitment. He finally earned his own chant and looked emotional as he was serenaded following a crucial win at Stamford Bridge in 2022.

Capping off a Netflix-worthy arc from villainous captain to hero without an armband, Xhaka soaked up the applause while being substituted off in his final game for Arsenal, where he aptly scored two goals against Wolves.

His departure came despite Arteta and the fans wanting him to stay. Xhaka himself has since admitted he was keen to take up a new challenge, one which would take him to Leverkusen and closer to his wife’s hometown

Needless to say, it paid off. Xhaka quickly settled in at Leverkusen, becoming a leader, a lynchpin and an orchestrator with a knack for smashing the ball in from range. Earning comparisons with the magisterial Alonso in his heyday, he registered the most touches in the Bundesliga and covered more distance than any other player last season as they made history.

Watching his achievements with great pride and even a hint of jealousy, there is a sense that the Gunners didn’t quite know - or appreciate - what they had until it was gone.