Arsenal wasted no time in making a move in the summer transfer window after they brought in Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Granit Xhaka for a transfer fee of £30 million.
Arsenal’s reluctance to spend in the transfer window has hurt the chances of winning titles immensely over the last few years. The club, though, have occasionally splashed out on big-name players like Mesut Ozil, but their indecisiveness during the 2016 January transfer window cost them dearly as far as league title is concerned. The 2015-16 season seemed to provide the best opportunity for Arsenal to end their trophy drought, but they could only come second after Leicester City managed to win in surprising circumstances.
Xhaka is expected to bring a lot of craft into the midfield, which will be without Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Arteta going into the new season. The duo have been a mainstay in Arsenal’s midfield over the last five years, but they have chosen to retire at the end of the campaign. At just 23 years of age,Xhaka has the potential to dominate Arsenal’s midfield at least for a decade. Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer says that the Switzerland international will be huge miss at the German outfit next season. Xhaka played a key role in Mönchengladbach’s fourth place finish in the Bundesliga last season.
“His departure is a huge loss for us because Xhaka is not just very important as a player, but also as a person. You can see that he is the one pulling the strings in midfield and our game would often run through him.He was the one creating our game and it’s always hard when you lose such an important personality. Now we’ve got to find a new playmaker, but I’m sure Borussia will do a good job and soon present our new Granit Xhaka,” saidSommer.