Micah Richards has named the player he was absolutely devastated to see sold by Arsenal, insisting that he had been so good under Mikel Arteta.
Edu and Mikel Arteta have got very little wrong in the transfer market over the last few years, with the Gunners elevating themselves into Premier League title contenders again.
But there is a sense that one player’s importance was only fully recognised once he had departed from the Emirates after a turbulent spell in North London.
Granit Xhaka was a divisive figure for much of his time at Arsenal, struggling to silence his critics and obviously having the captaincy taken off him at one stage.
But Arteta’s appointment proved to be a turning point for the Swiss, with Xhaka playing the best football of his Arsenal spell in what proved to be his final season for the club.
Micah Richards devastated when Arsenal sold Granit Xhaka
It looked to be, in some ways, the perfect time for Xhaka to depart, with the 31-year-old joining Bayer Leverkusen for just over £21 million.
Xhaka more than played his part in Leverkusen’s extraordinary season as Arsenal fell agonisingly short in the Premier League title race again.
And speaking on The Rest is Football, Micah Richards suggested that he was extremely upset when Xhaka was sold.
“Xhaka, when he left Arsenal, I was absolutely devastated because I knew how important he could be to a team,” he said.
“Okay, he got a lot of red cards and he was a target at times, but he was so good, especially when he was playing a bit more offensive for Arsenal at times.”
Midfielder recently compared with Spanish great
What has been clear is the respect Xhaka has from his peers, with Richards far from being the only professional to laud the midfielder over the last couple of years.
Obviously, it was hard to defend Xhaka in the moments when he was making needless mistakes and losing his head, but he went on to prove just what an outstanding footballer he could be.
In fact, Conor Coady said Xhaka reminded him of Xabi Alonso, which is incredibly high praise given what the Spaniard managed to achieve in his career.
It still felt like the right time to let Xhaka leave, but you could understand if Arsenal fans wondered what could have been had he stayed one more year.