“They Think The Same” – Granit Xhaka Compares Arteta & Alonso As Coaches

By The Editor
on 16th November 2023

Granit Xhaka is enjoying the familiarity at Leverkusen…

Former Arsenal skipper Granit Xhaka is seeing similarities between the two coaches he’s served at club-level over the past four years, the Swiss general told CBS Sports.

Xhaka is currently flourishing at Bayer Leverkusen who are leading the Bundesliga table after an unbeaten start to the campaign.

The 31-year-old joined Xabi Alonso’s side last summer after a string of windows in which his future was said to be uncertain. It’s well documented that Mikel Arteta convinced him to stay on more than one occasion, but it seems the time was right in June.

Given how close the aforementioned coaches are in terms of their friendship and how they see the game, it’s no surprise to learn that Xhaka has noticed identical traits in their coaching methods.

Both, while operating from different systems, aim to control the game with possession and force the opponent to remain in their half.

“I had a very, very good relationship with Mikel, of course,” Xhaka said when asked to compare the two managers.

“A young coach who had a first job at a big, big club like Arsenal, of course [like] Xabi now.

“I see not a lot of big difference between them. They think the same, they work the same. I’m more than happy, it’s a privilege for me to have Mikel before and Xabi now.”

Xhaka has become a cult hero at Arsenal in recent months, a sentiment that has only grown this season with the club struggling to plug the hole he left in the team.

Arteta brought in Kai Havertz to occupy the left-8 role and that has, so far, been an absolute disaster with the former Chelsea man producing horrendous performances.

The boss seems to know his experiment is not working too, with the German only starting four Premier League games since the September international break.