The 5 players Arsenal signed along with Granit Xhaka – & how they fared

Granit Xhaka has been a divisive figure at Arsenal in his nearly six years in north London, where he has made himself a crucial cog in midfield two and a half years after being stripped of the captaincy following a verbal altercation with fans.

Xhaka signed for Arsenal in the summer of 2016 for around £35million to much fanfare, as a dominant central midfielder to add steel and a strong passing range to replace his future boss, Mikel Arteta, who retired that summer.

The 29-year-old started well, but soon the reckless cards and sloppy mistakes which occasionally plague his game started to creep in, and Xhaka would often be the one to take the blame as the team suffered bad spells of form.

Arsenal finished second in the season before his arrival but are yet to finish in the top four since, although they have won two FA Cups in that time.

Arsene Wenger went on a spending spree that summer, buying six players for around £100million in total, the club’s biggest ever window at the time. Only two of those six remain at the club. Here’s how they got on.

The most infamous name on this list, Mustafi arrived near the end of the window for around £35million from Valencia.

A World Cup winner with Germany, there was a lot of excitement at the arrival of Mustafi, who had forged a very solid partnership in central defence with Nicolas Otamendi on the Spanish east coast, and he initially started superbly, going unbeaten in his first 21 games at the club.

However, after an injury, things went downhill quickly for Mustafi. A series of calamitous errors followed over the next four seasons, in which time Arsenal’s defence became leakier than ever, before he was eventually released in January 2021.

The fact Mustafi made over 150 appearances