LOVE, ACRIMONY, DIVORCE AND GRANIT XHAKA

The Emirates Stadium was experiencing one of its disappointing afternoons which was customary, during Unai Emery’s second season at the club. Crystal Palace were visiting on a cold Sunday in October and Arsenal had just thrown away a 2:0 lead.

In the 61st minute of the game, the stadium erupted in boos and jeers. Whilst, boos and jeers are usual characteristics of football fans, what wasn’t usual about these boos and jeers at this time was that they were coming from Arsenal fans and directed towards their captain Granit Xhaka, who was about to be substituted after a dismal performance. In response, Granit Xhaka waved his hands at the crowd, cupping his ears towards them, and mouthed some words, while making his way down the tunnel, he rejected a handshake from his manager, took off his jersey, and stormed in. The moment ushers in the death of love between Arsenal, Fans, and Xhaka, acrimony arose, although Xhaka tendered an apology a few hours later but, it was too late, too little, actions have taken place and consequences precede. Xhaka was stripped of the captaincy of Arsenal Football Club, and the relationship amongst parties grew more awkward, Arsenal fans are waiting for the summer transfer window to open so that they could see Xhaka leave. Xhaka on his part is just putting on the Arsenal jersey and out on the pitch on match days just to fulfill his professional obligations while he awaits Jose Mourinho’s warm embrace at AS Roma.

We live in a generation where relationships are fragile, where commitment and responsibility are alien concepts, love knows no turbulence and marriage is an arrangement of convenience. Therefore, Granit Xhaka staying a day beyond the summer transfer window at The Arsenal will be deemed nothing less but a miracle considering the circumstance. All t’s are crossed and lines are dotted, separation is the only way out. Then, Mikel Arteta arrived at Arsenal as manager to replace fellow Spaniard, Unai Emery.

Mikel Arteta’s arrival at Arsenal marked the beginning of one of football’s most incredible redemption stories. Xhaka for the rest of the season under Arteta’s guidance appeared very much decent in terms of performance, to make matters more pleasant, Arsenal cruised past league giants Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea FC to win the FA Cup under the captainship of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang. It is an incredible icing on an impressive cake.

Despite times of acrimony and rancor, there is this innermost desire of better days, a wish that things should work out, deep heartbreaks they wished never occurred, and a gap blown open that needs bridging, this is the beautiful thing about love and relationship. The gap that existed in this acrimonious relationship between the Arsenal fans and Granit Xhaka, Mikel Arteta suffice to say, is the bridge, thankfully he arrived just in time.

Summer transfers are filled with drama, suspense, and millions of Great British Pounds moving amongst clubs, for football’s most recent seasons, the premier league has led the pack in these spendings with a whooping 2.8 billion Great British Pounds, as the world’s leading arena in football, attracting retinue of world-class football players to the league. The window opened, and with its usual drama and busyness, there were tirades of reports flying all over the press, “Granit Xhaka is leaving Arsenal, Roma is Calling and so on.”, the European Nation’s Cup, Europe’s most important footballing event is played in Denmark, England is progressing well and a host of other major happenings that surrounded the tournament but these are of little or no concern to the Arsenal supporters or Xhaka who himself is flying high with his country Switzerland at the Euros. What is relevant to them is the situation of Xhaka being sorted as soon as possible and a new midfield maestro brought in to solidify the Arsenal midfield and set the club on the path of glory.

Granit Xhaka is still an Arsenal player after the transfer window had come, and closed. In the story, the love, a new relationship is about to be forged after a failed attempt at divorce. Broken relationships take time to mend even after both parties have agreed to give peace a chance and work things out, it’s a tedious process but the first and most important step has been taken. The agreement, the dissolution of the separation process. Toxic love is intolerable, anger grows in an acrimonious partnership and the possibility of greener grass on the other side excites but, in that heated moment, take a pause, deep breath, reassess, then give peace a go, that pause alone might just be the beginning of a freshly baked love story.

Arsenal FC didn’t have a particularly good season on the pitch in the preceding season, but they are a team undergoing several refurbishing, with a new sheriff in town, rebuilding near collapsed affairs, mending fences, picking up the parts of broken love, and trying to reposition a club that has fallen off the ladder for far too long back to the top level. Xhaka signed a new three-year contract with an option to extend after months of negotiation, the relationship is gradually picking up its broken pieces, and efforts are made from both sides to heal the wounded hearts but only time will tell.

As the 2022/2023 English Premier League Season kicked off, many people within the footballing circus did not give Arsenal a good rating, ex-footballers turn pundits, pundits, sports journalists, the media, fans, friends and foes alike, and even certain sections within the Arsenal support base. Nonetheless, Arsenal started the season brightly, with high-flying performances, with five games, five wins, and a comprehensive fifteen points taken. There were still doubts in the hearts of many, as they were saying, “They have not played any tough game”, I don’t think these statements bother Arsenal too much, as it is a clear disrespect to those teams as I see it anyway.

On the dawn of September Arsenal traveled to Old Trafford to play The Red Devils on a Sunday at 16:30 hours, a game that United won 3–1. There went an instant chorus amongst football fans, pundits, and journos, “Ah! We said it! They are not good enough, they played a very bad United said and still lost, what would happen if they face the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, and the rest of the big sides? They won’t even make the top four. They will fall off”. A lot of phrases were thrown around but what many refuse to acknowledge is that, despite Manchester United’s recent travails, Old Trafford is one of the most difficult away grounds to go to and grind a result in your favor.

Arsenal put the United game past them, went on, and never lost a game again for the remainder of 2022. Mikel Arteta has built one of the best teams that the Emirate Stadium has ever seen and the best-performing team of the 2022/2023 Barclays Premier League season, outperformed only by the blazing Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City with a five points difference at the top. This team was built with an average age of 20–22 years old. Granit Xhaka is one of the oldest members of the team and had formed a remarkable midfield partnership with Thomas Party. Putting in extraordinary performance week in, week out, he has grown to be an integral part of Mikel Arteta’s high-flying Arsenal much to the delight of the fans. Commanding his ground, imposing attacks, instilling discipline, making crucial interceptions, and scoring goals to the roar of the Arsenal fans. The relationship between them is growing closer and closer, beautifully coming together, like a daisy blossoming during spring.

There are always indicative moments in every love story, the very moment that kept you rest assured that this is for real, this is for keeps and you keep cherishing that moment for the rest of your life. This moment came for Arsenal fans and Xhaka after the team’s 3–0 victory over Brentford Football Club. The players were all making their way to the visiting supporters at the Gtech Community Stadium to celebrate a sixth victory in seven Premier League games when the final whistle blew. The joyous fans were chanting, “We’ve got Granit Xhaka, we’ve got Granit Xhaka, we’ve got Granit Xhaka, we’ve got Granit Xhaka”. As the arsenal players stood in front of their fans clapping, and expressing gratitude for their support, it was Xhaka’s name that echoed through those loud voices, the story of one of football’s greatest redemption journeys has been completed, gaps had been bridged, divorce successfully halted, scars of a broken relationship erased, a sour love story rekindled and love, had come home to stay. A moment even Xhaka himself find confused to live in, he took to his social media platform and repay the gesture, thanking the fans for the show of love and how he will not forget that moment. Aww! The moment is bright and beautiful, sins, forgiveness, acceptance, and a new beginning.

These moments became paramount for the rest of the season, Xhaka’s name chanted in beautiful melody at the Arsenal supporter's end in both home and away games.

As the curtains draw close on the final day of the 2022/2023 premier league season, Arsenal was hosting Wolverhampton Wonderers, less than 15 minutes into the game, the magnificently imposing Granit Xhaka has put two goals past Wolves, and once again the Emirate stadium erupted in echoes of his chant song “Granit Xhaka we’ve got! Granit Xhaka we’ve got!! Granit Xhaka we’ve got!!!”.

Granit Xhaka was substituted in the 75th minute of the game to a standing ovation from the Arsenal fans, chanting and urging him to stay as there were reports that he will leave the club at the end of the season. It was amazing to watch, this redemption, from walking off the pitch angrily to jeers and boos from his fans to a standing ovation to having his own chant song from, wanting him to get out of their club to being urged not to leave. Love is a painstaking thing to build, with ups and severe downs but, when successfully erected, it is very beautiful to see.

No matter what happened this summer, Granit Xhaka has written his name in Arsenal’s history, a fine legend, his resilience and ability to not give up brought about this beautiful relationship, he will be loved forever at Arsenal and would be welcomed with great pleasure back at Arsenal even far beyond his playing days, as he has worn the famous Red and White proudly with passion, respect, love, and resilience.