Granit Xhaka has again insisted he didn’t need much time to decide over a move to Sunderland.
The Switzerland international has been speaking to Süddeutsche Zeitung about numerous topics, including his transfer to the Stadium of Light.
Last summer, Xhaka arrived at Sunderland from Bayer Leverkusen, where he was a key player. He won the Bundesliga with them during the 2023/24 season.
Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus was involved in the negotiations to bring the 33-year-old to the club.
The midfielder has explained that aspect impressed him, and convinced him to join the Black Cats.
“Some decisions take time, but I made this one immediately,” he said.
“The owner called me sometime in June, around 11pm. In Albania, they say a call at that hour means either something bad or something big. At first, I thought it was a joke and didn’t believe it was the owner. People know each other in Switzerland, but I didn’t know a Swiss person owned an English club. The key was that the owner hadn’t contacted me personally in any of my previous transfers. That impressed me.
“That he absolutely wanted to sign me. And he did. The transfer fee was similar to what Leverkusen had paid Arsenal two years earlier, even though I was younger then. I’m a player who needs recognition, and he gave me that feeling.”
The newspaper were curious to find out what attracted him to join Sunderland, who had just returned to the Premier League after long break.
When responding to that, the former Arsenal man made it clear finances weren’t the factor. If that was the case, he would have accepted one of the better offers that was on the table last summer. Instead, Xhaka ended up picking Sunderland because he wanted a new sporting challenge.
“The return to the Premier League and a new challenge. If it had been about the money, I would have left Europe. I had offers where I could have earned many times my current salary,” Xhaka explained.
“But I’m in top physical condition, having played more than 120 competitive matches in the last two years. The crucial question was: Do I still have the strength to lead a young team? In the Premier League, that’s extremely demanding because of the high level of competition among the clubs. Ultimately, I was convinced: Yes, I can do it.”
This season, Xhaka has started every league match for Régis Le Bris’ side, who are now seventh in the table.
He earlier mentioned that he joined Sunderland to experience “moments of suffering.” Süddeutsche Zeitung wanted to know how much he has ‘suffered’ with the English club.
“We’re suffering a lot, even if it’s not immediately apparent from the outside,” he added.
“Suffering isn’t just about fighting relegation. It also means enduring long periods without possession, staying compact, and defending consistently, like in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal. This is new for me because I’ve never played for a newly promoted team before. My previous clubs usually had significantly more possession.”
