Charles Watts has stated on his YouTube channel that the attitude shown by Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka ‘doesn’t surprise’ him, with the midfielder keen to get back to training with the Gunners.
The midfielder has just finished his World Cup campaign with Switzerland. They qualified from Group F, finishing in second place and qualifying for the round of 16.
However, they were thumped by 6-1 by Portugal and are heading home. Xhaka played in all four of Switzerland’s World Cup matches and had a 88% pass accuracy across the tournament.
Watts contrasted the comments made between Xkaka and Takehiro Tomiyasu. The Japanese defender was hoping to have a little bit of downtime after the tournament, but for the Swiss international, it was the total opposite, with the rest of the squad currently training in Dubai.
Watts stated: “We saw Tomiyasu speaking earlier in the week saying that he wanted a little bit of time to get over the World Cup, how disappointed he was, and he hoped he was going to get time to be given a little bit of a rest.
“Granit said the complete opposite. He said, ‘look, I just want to forget about this tournament now, it’s done and dusted, I want to get over to Dubai, start training with my teammates and really just focus on the Premier League now, because we’ve got big things to do’.
“It’s interesting when you see different players and how they approach [things]. It doesn’t surprise me with Granit, because that’s the kind of player he is. It’ll be interesting if Arsenal or Arteta just says to him, ‘look, calm down a little bit, just give yourself a few days, get home, have a little bit of time with your family, then come over to Dubai.”
TIF Thoughts on Watts’ comments…
We believe Xhaka should give himself time to unwind from the World Cup. He featured in every single match Switzerland played, so throwing him into the mix could risk a potential injury.
The Swiss captain has been a key player for Arsenal this season. He’s provided six goal contributions in the Premier League so far.
Furthermore, he features in the top ten performing Gunners players based on average league rating according to Sofascore, with a rating of 7.03.
Where Xkaka has really excelled in the last year or so is his creative output. When compared to other midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues, the Champions League and the Europa League, Xhaka is in the top 8% for shot-creating actions (FBref).
Considering how important he’s been to them this season and with Arsenal’s first competitive match not being until Boxing Day, Xkaka should get some time to rest as they won’t want to risk any chance of injury.