When Granit Xhaka signed for Arsenal he did so with a reputation as something of a bad boy who had disciplinary problems.
Back then, I took a look at Granit Xhaka’s red and yellow card record to work out if he really was going to be the liability many said he was.
It turns out, you’ll be shocked to know, he wasn’t.
A number of journalists had used his youth record to pad out his stats in a way I’ve never seen them do with any other player before or since.
But, as he picked up another yellow against Leicester on Monday after being lucky to escape an earlier booking, I thought about those stats.
To my mind, it felt like was getting booked far more for Arsenal than he ever did before he arrived in London, so I decided to see if my instinct was right.
It was.
Since arriving at Arsenal in 2016, Granit Xhaka has picked up 28 yellows and 2 reds in 103 games.
That’s a yellow every 3.7 games and a red every 51.5.
Of course, we also know those reds are skewed by Jon Moss’s dislike of Xhaka with one of the sendings off coming for something nobody has ever been sent off for since.
The only straight red cards Xhaka has received in his entire career have been from Jon Moss.
Granit Xhaka’s red card record before joining Arsenal
2015/16 – 28 Bundesliga appearances, two reds, both for two yellows, no reds in 5 Champions League appearances or 3 cup games
2014/15 – 30 Bundesliga appearances, one red for two yellows, 9 Europa League appearances, 1 red for two yellows, 5 cup appearances, no reds
2013/14 – 28 Bundesliga appearances, 1 red for two yellows, 1 cup game, no red
2012/13 – 33 appearances all competitions, no reds
2011/12 – 38 appearances all competitions, no reds
2010/11 – 34 appearances all competitions, no reds
Granit Xhaka’s yellow card record before joining Arsenal
2015/16 – 7 yellows in 36 games (one every 5.1 games)
2014/15 – 14 yellows in 42 games (3)
2013/14 – 10 yellows in 29 games (2.9)
2012/13 – 4 yellows in 33 games (8.25)
2011/12 – 4 yellows in 38 games (9.5)
2010/11 – 3 yellows in 34 games (11.3)
That gives us a pre-Arsenal career average for Granit Xhaka of a yellow card every 6.7 games – almost double his Arsenal rate of 3.7.
Had he continued to pick up yellows at this old rate, he would have just 15 yellow cards while wearing an Arsenal shirt, 13 fewer than he currently has.