When you arrive at a club like Arsenal with a price tag of over £30m, certain things are expected of you.
When the Gunners announced that Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka would be coming to North London back in May, Arsenal fans let out a collective “Who?”, as they rushed to find out more about the Borussia Moenchengladbach captain.
After an impressive display at Euro 2016, it was clear that Xhaka had the potential to be something special. And just a handful of games into his Arsenal career, the 23-year-old scored his first goal in English football with a long-range effort against Hull at the the weekend to guarantee a 4-1 victory for his side.
Not since Tomas Rosicky’s heyday have Arsenal had a player who has both the talent and the balls to have a pop from distance, but Xhaka has laid down a marker after scoring his second goal from distance in a week during their EFL Cup tie with Nottingham Forest.
With about a quarter of the game gone, Forest had the better of their higher league opponents, and former Gunners Henri Lansbury and Niklas Bendtner had threatened to team up to break the deadlock.
But it was Xhaka who found the net first after his 30-yard strike was deflected past Vladimir Stojkovic, who couldn’t get a strong enough hand to it to keep it out.
Xhaka scores another screamer, this time against Forest pic.twitter.com/UYFAxu6AYv
— Terje (@GoonerTerje) September 20, 2016
As you can imagine, Arsenal fans remained totally calm about the whole thing, pointing out that Xhaka’s shot had indeed been deflected.
Just kidding, they declared him the second coming of Christ now that he has scored with his only two shots on target as an Arsenal player.
2 – Granit Xhaka has scored with both of his first two shots on target for Arsenal. Range
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 20, 2016
Rumors floating around North Korea have put a bid in for Xhaka's left peg as they seek to add to their weapons of mass destruction
— Tosi (@afctosi) September 20, 2016
Bloody hell, he's done it again. Has any Arsenal player ever scored 2 better first goals than Xhaka? #afc
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 20, 2016
Xhaka's goal tonight is identical to the one he scored on the weekend 👀 absolute flames🔥
— Con (@connalltudor) September 20, 2016
Xhaka with back to back Screamers… Dude is really packing in his left foot!🙆
— Sir_MOH' (@Ola_Muhammed) September 20, 2016
https://twitter.com/LukasCheves/status/778324157599715328
Xhaka's goal😍
— Bryony (@Bryyyy93) September 20, 2016
And of course, there were the obligatory comparisons to a certain Manchester United midfielder.
Xhaka looks a total bargain for £35m, especially when some clubs paid £100m+ for hugely inferior players #COYG 👌
— Mark (@MarkGS19) September 20, 2016
Xhaka is the player United fans thought Pogba would be…
— Kyo (@KyoAFC) September 20, 2016
Granit Xhaka:
2 shots
2 goals
£35mPaul Pogba:
5 haircuts
0 goals
£89m— thecypriotafc (@thecypriotafc) September 20, 2016
Xhaka is at it again!
And what surprise me most?He doesn't dab!!
Neither does he cost £89m
— Oruche Ugochukwu (@oruchechuks) September 20, 2016
But, Arsenal fans being Arsenal fans, there had to be a negative side to a new signing scoring two goals…
And for the remainder of Xhaka’s career, the crowd would yell “shoot” whenever he got the ball, regardless of where he was. True story.
— ΛЯSΣПΛL ЯΣPӨЯT (@ArsenalReport) September 20, 2016
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