When Granit Xhaka signed for Arsenal in 2016, he looked like a midfield playmaker who had been moulded precisely to fit the role of a deep-lying playmaker.
Spraying diagonals and switching possession from side to side, he was the single midfield pivot with the stylish left foot. He could have been lab-grown it looked so natural for him, but he was not someone many imagined could, or would, change genres throughout his career.
A very public spat and a redemption later, he was allowed to join Bayer Leverkusen almost a year ago.
Xabi Alonso returned him to a central role in his 3-2-4-1 formation alongside Exequiel Palacios, but the style of play, which produced a historic league and cup double, required another change of style for Xhaka.
Compared to Arsenal’s slow, methodical build-up, Leverkusen’s possession play is based around clusters of players combining through short passing combinations.
The number of passes Xhaka made per 90 minutes exploded to nearly 100, but 57 per cent of them were over a short distance — comfortably higher than his previous six seasons — and just seven per cent were defined as long passes. Read more below.
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