When Johan Djourou talks about his friend and compatriot Granit Xhaka, there is a single reason behind the midfielder’s resurgence at Arsenal.
“There is only one thing that turned things around,” he says. “And that was Arteta. Otherwise, he would have been out the door.”
Djourou, a former Arsenal and Switzerland defender, is talking about the midfielder and the redemption arc he has been on over the past three years.
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In October 2019 a sizeable portion of the home crowd jeered when Xhaka was substituted in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. The damage to his pride was strewn over his face and, unable to contain his anger, he mouthed “fuck off” before ripping off his shirt and throwing the captain’s armband to the ground.
It looked, for all intents and purposes, like his number was well and truly up.
That implosion felt like a lifetime ago at the Emirates on Tuesday as he carved open Chelsea for Martin Odegaard’s first two identical goals. Whether the statisticians award Xhaka the assist for Arsenal’s scrappy third goal is up for debate, but whether he has won back his place in the supporters’ hearts is not.
“That is something we actually discussed as he is a big friend of mine,” Djourou tells The Athletic.
“He was emotional. There is nothing to hide about that. It was tough for him, as when you try to give your best and nothing is clicking… but that was the team too, so it was difficult to be the scapegoat. He didn’t have the best season, he knows that, but there is a line you can’t cross.
“The treatment he receives at times from fans isn’t always understandable. You can criticise a performance or form but you can’t comment on family members and hope dreadful things. These guys are human beings so, of course, the reaction was maybe over the top but it was an accumulation of things.
“When someone experiences a lot of troubles they sometimes have to let it go. What saved him, or gave him the tool to come back, is that Arteta gave him a chance again. Everything was thrown away and it was down to him to prove everyone wrong.”
Xhaka has seven goals and seven assists this season and Djourou, having played alongside him for Switzerland, knows the strength of character he possesses.
Their first game together, Xhaka’s debut, came against England at Wembley in June 2011. It was a European Championship qualifier and as an 18-year-old still playing for the club he emerged from in Basel, it did not stop him from trying to control the game against Frank Lampard and Jack Wilshere.
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“When you come into a team, there are already players there and they have been doing it for a long time so how do you put yourself at their level?” says Djourou.
“I remember the first training session I had at Arsenal. Bergkamp did a touch and I didn’t react, I was just caught watching the magic of Dennis doing his thing. ‘What was that?’ But I realised if I keep doing that I will never have a chance to be there and one day Titi (Thierry Henry) came to me and said, ‘What I like about you is that you’re not afraid to put your foot in on me or Vieira’.
“It’s the same with Granit. He’s not scared of anything and has full confidence in his ability. He had a big personality and you could sense he was coming here to do something for himself and his country, not just to be here once or twice.
“When you know his background, you understand where that comes from. He knows what he stands for. Granit is a guy who is very confident but very emotional so he can lose it at times with the red cards but he has vision and — not to say he doesn’t care what people think like it is a bad thing — he will do what he thinks is right for him, his family and his team.
“The coach saw those qualities and not long after he became captain.”
Even last season Xhaka’s early red card against Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final, his fifth for the club since joining in 2016, had many questioning his temperament and whether Arteta would be best to phase him out.
Instead, Arteta has harnessed Xhaka’s aggression by having him higher up the pitch on the left of a midfield three next to Thomas Partey and Odegaard, which has brought the best out in him creatively.
“Am I surprised? No, because I think adapting not only comes from the player but the coach understanding the player he has,” says Djourou.
“He always has the passing and shooting range. As a No 6, he liked was to drop deep and play those balls over the top or out wide like Cesc Fabregas, but with Granit, it was clear he had the qualities to play anywhere on the pitch, even centre-back.
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“I can totally see Granit becoming a coach as his understanding of the game and his ability to learn is big. He takes a lot of consideration of the details whenever there is a conversation about philosophy or methodology. He has his own ideas and is always asking questions.
“There was a scene in the Amazon documentary against Chelsea where he says, ‘You’re dropping and (Romelu) Lukaku has a lot of space, one of you has to go on him’. Mikel came two minutes after and said the exact same thing.
“As a player, Mikel was one of those guys who was really into details, too, and tried to capture the mind of the coach.”
Arsenal’s rotations caused Chelsea endless problems in the first half on Tuesday and led to the first two goals with Oleksandr Zinchenko inverting and Xhaka drifting out to the wing before picking out Odegaard at the edge of the box with two perfect square passes.
Knowing what Arsenal are going to do is one thing, but stopping it is another.
“In today’s football, there are no surprises. You can watch a game and think you know and stop what they are going to propose but when you are on the pitch and the ball moves quickly, it is different,” Djourou says.
“The reason they scored those two goals is because they have worked on it so much it becomes natural. Zinchenko coming inside, Xhaka going outside and giving that superiority of numbers to aim for the space in the middle.
“The run from Trossard attracted runners with him too and that gives Xhaka the time he needed — and he has a special left foot. He’s one of the best passers of the ball around. He is so precise with his left foot even when he whips it with pace.
“It’s interesting to me that Arteta has so many left-footed players. Granit, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Odegaard and Saka, plus Jakub Kiwior made it six. Why is that? It’s because it changes the dynamic of the team and they add something different to open up teams.
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“I liked having Kiwior as right centre-back as there are different angles he can play with.”
Djourou made 144 appearances for Arsenal after being signed by Arsene Wenger as a 16-year-old in 2003. Even though he has been away from London since 2014 and is now in a variety of businesses with coaching, philanthropy and media work all occupying his time, this team has made him feel so “connected” to the club that he has made sure to study the partnership between Saliba and Gabriel.
“I think they’ve been confident in how Arteta wants to play with the high line and being the first players to launch the attack,” he says.
“They complement each other very well but I’ve been most impressed that they don’t seem to need to speak much to understand each other. They have that special bond where you sense if one has a bad game the other has his back.”
Djourou was in and out of the team at different points during his time at Arsenal so can empathise with the pressure Rob Holding has been put under since deputising for Saliba — and the criticism he has faced since results dipped at the same time.
“We shouldn’t forget Rob has come in and played well most of the time, but sometimes players are more used to others as they’ve been together for more games.
“When someone comes into the team and there is a feeling it is going to be dysfunctional, fans are ready to jump on one or two mistakes that they wouldn’t do with Saliba. There should be some fairness as the body has to adjust and there may be some fatigue but they are two different types of players.”
Djourou’s best season at the club came in 2010-11 when Arsenal led at the top of the league until March. It was a season that promised much but delivered little with a League Cup final loss to Birmingham City and a 1-1 draw against Liverpool spiking their title hopes.
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“When they played Liverpool the other week I had a flashback. I looked at the pictures of when we were leading in stoppage time and scored but they scored a penalty with the last kick.
“That was a defining moment as the belief was there and we were playing well but you feel so close to winning that you think, ‘Ah, we’ve done it’. The belief goes down because you know you fucked it up and you might be in trouble.
“A lot of things in football are subconscious. You try your best but like when Saka missed the penalty to go 3-1 up at West Ham, it adds doubt and pressure, it puts you on the back foot. Then the thinking becomes about being careful when for most of the season they were just playing without thinking about the table.
“As it gets to the end, are they still playing or are they more worried about the points? That maybe changes the attitude of the team.”
Djourou never got to be part of a title-winning team at Arsenal and, while it looks like his former team-mate Xhaka may not get the fairytale league title to top off his recovery at Arsenal, he is enjoying seeing his friend accepted back into the fold at the club he owes his career to.
(Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
