Granit Xhaka - The Football Interview

0:00The Football Interview on the Football Daily Podcast.

0:30It's Sunderland's Granit Xhaka. Well, Granit, thank you so much for speaking to us today. Let's start with football. What's your first ever memory of it? I think I started very early to kick the first ball. Even when I was born, my grandfather was playing already with me and probably the first kicks with four when I started, where I grew up in Basel and yeah just enjoying like every little one. Can you remember the first team that you played for? Yeah of course it was FC Concordia Basel. It's a local team so I was there until I was turning 12. Then I moved to FC Basel and yeah did my first steps there.

1:14You obviously realised from quite a young age did you that you could potentially turn it into a career? Did you have a moment where you thought actually I'm quite good at this? I started with four, I think, or when my parents, they took myself and my brother to the team. It was just to have fun, to be with other kids together and not going in the wrong direction. This was the first target for them because they were working and most of the time I was alone with my brother. So playing just together and enjoying our time with the football. I had a little bit of bigger injury when I was around 15 with my knee.

1:52started to study as well after this with much more mature people who helped me in the way of my mentality and all these things and yeah the under 17 world cup was a key for myself for the family where i took the first steps after to the first team from fc basle you mentioned there the injury that you had at 15 was it a really severe injury did you ever think that maybe you weren't going to be able to play? Yeah, I was out nearly nine months. And yeah, when you are 15, you don't think too much about injuries, you don't think too much about can I get it, can I or I can't. The worst time for myself was when I came back.

2:34So I was scared to kick the ball again. I was scared to go in the duels. Yeah, it was not an easy time, but I enjoyed it as well this time because this just makes you stronger than you maybe think about yourself. You've played in some incredible teams, played in some massive games, but when you look back across your whole career, is there one match that you wish you could replay? Wow, this is a very good question because I didn't think about this, but maybe the biggest emotional game for myself was my first game with Switzerland against England. I was 17 at Wembley, And I will never forget the day before the game, the coach came to me and said, you want to start tomorrow?

3:20And my answer was, I'm here to start. I'm ready with 17. But when you come out and you see all these big players like Lampard, John Terry was there, Theo Walcott, Jack Wiltshire, who was an idol for us because he was just at next level. And you see them and you start to be nervous. You start to say, I'm ready for this game or not. But yeah, I think this one was emotional, maybe the biggest game. What's been the toughest point in your career? I have two tough moments in my career. The first one was when I moved the first time away from my family, with nearly 19 to Germany. Even the same language, a little bit Switzerland, Germany, but it was very, very difficult for myself.

4:05Everyone knows how close I am with my family, but even with my brother. and just to be away from them was hard. But yeah, after this I didn't get the minutes what I wanted as well. I wanted to leave in January already after six months. But I had my dad behind me who said if you walk now you will always walk away. So heads down and just work. And I did for this moment and everything changed. And the second part I think is not a big secret. was 2019 when I had this, I call it a misunderstanding with the fans of Arsenal. But two moments where I think that I came stronger and better away from these moments because it's part of the process, it's part of writing as well the whole history, what I believe I can do.

4:59One side very bad, one side I was lucky to have it. You mentioned the time at Arsenal then. Now you're back in the Premier League, have you had an opportunity to kind of really reflect on your whole period at Arsenal because you had some incredible highs as well as some really difficult moments? In general, I think people just think about this moment in 2019. But I came in 2016 and I was in the football club for Arsenal for seven years. So to be part of a football club for seven years, to share the dressing room, nearly 24-7, every day with the same people, different people, every summer, every winter we had new people around us, makes me proud because it's not easy to be on this level for seven years.

5:41and of course when I leave Arsenal it was a hard decision for myself and my family because we were happy there but I got another offer on the table where I was thinking more far than in the moment but to be honest I didn't expect to be back in the Premier League after two years again. Did you not? No, no, no, no. This was not the plan of myself, of our family. So you never wanted to come back? It's not I didn't want but it was not planned. So when I moved from Arsenal I signed a five years contract in Leverkusen So everything was planned around what happened after five years. Maybe taking a coaching first, all these steps.

6:15But yeah, always saying football, you never know where you are tomorrow. Why did you come back then? I came back because first of all, people was laughing with me, to be honest, even the closest part of friends say to me, why are you going back? So why not? Yeah, OK, you can go back to Premier League, but why are you going back to Sunderland? Because I love the challenge. And I had the feeling I need a new challenge. After two years in Germany, where we won the first year nearly everything, unbeaten in the Bundesliga, won the cup, lost the final in the Europa League, it was very painful. But as well, I just had the feeling with the owner when I spoke with them, with the club, with the coach, this is the right club for me.

7:00Because the people are very humble. It's a small city where I grew up. I see exactly myself, how I grew up, and I just wanted to come back in reality where I believed is the right direction for myself, for my family. And I'm just happy that everything at the moment went how I was looking for. You must have expected it to go well because otherwise you wouldn't have come here. But has it even exceeded your expectations? I mean, you hope that everything will be going in this way, what you think, because I said to the club, the first thing I said, I'm not coming here to play in the Premier League for one year and to go down.

7:42Because I'm leaving a Champions League club, I'm leaving a Champions team like Leverkusen we was, with great club, great people around and I'm coming here to push this project, what the club has. With my experience, with my leadership, with the work I'm doing every day to show as well a new generation that even when you're tired sometimes you can go through. And I think that this period what we had now in the winter with all these games and we missed seven players in AFCON as well, I think it was a great experience for the dressing room. I find it fascinating because you must have had other offers to come back to the Premier League, didn't you?

8:20It was a busy summer to be honest. I'm 33 and my family was over Christmas here and I spoke with my brother and I say, why I had this offer now? I never had so many offers than this summer. It was a very, very busy summer for myself and for the family because every day someone else comes. But I decided for myself after 20 minutes on the call with the owner, I said to myself, I want to go to Sunderland. I was so sure, but I have another part in my family as well. They need to accept, they need me to be happy and all these things. but in the end I managed to be here and I'm just happy that I did this step.

9:27It's 6-0 and Salah rips off his shirt. Mohamed Salah represents a dream for Egyptians, for Muslims, for Africans. More than just a football player, he gave us hope. I'm Kelly Cates. This is sporting giant Mo Salah. Listen on BBC Sounds. The Football Interview on the Football Daily Podcast. What was a young Granit Xhaka like? I was not so easy to handle with myself. Why doesn't that surprise me? If you ask my mum, I was always active. I had a lot of power. But I was a guy who... I just asked our teammates two months ago, what did you expect before I came? And they expect, like, you're coming here and you are the guy who is very serious and never joking, never laughing.

10:19I said, do I have this picture from outside? Because I'm not like this. What do you like? I like to be around people. I like to be very open with people, very straight for it, to joke, to laugh. I'm totally different at home, I'm maybe different on the pitch. I know a lot of clubs or a lot of other players that don't like me on the pitch. I asked already some players as well where I play against. Do you like that players don't like you on the pitch? That's a compliment isn't it? I don't know if it's a compliment because I asked for example Lucha, we played against Leipzig with Leverkusen and I said to him, how was it?

10:56He said, everyone hates you. And I was like, wow, why? Because you are a guy, you provoke, you speak a lot and I said, yeah, because I just want to win. I'm not here to create friends, I'm here to win. And if I want to win, I demand myself a lot. And if I demand myself a lot, I demand from others. So sometimes people take it in a wrong way, but I hope that I'm not bringing this outside, that I just want to kiss someone. It's just to win in games and after the game, I think I'm the easiest guy who you can meet. It's good to know that you're exactly the same as a child as I think it sounds like you are now.

11:40Yes. Yes. You've mentioned family. Talk me through your family set up because you've got a brother, that's right, and you're very close with him. He's also a footballer and your parents too. Are you close with them? I'm very close. I'm very close with both parents. I'm very close with my brother. I was lucky that our conversation with my brother was always about football because he was playing as well. So he retired last summer. So he has much more time to watch our games. Does he come? He comes and he watches in the TV as well in Switzerland. We speak about mistakes. We speak about good things because sometimes we played in the same time as well.

12:18Of course, I can't miss my wife who is my supporter for 24-7. Of course, my parents are not here now at the moment in UK or even in Germany. but I think with my wife who takes a lot of stress for myself, even with the kids and all the things, I think she's a key part of my life for sure. Talk to me about the relationship with your brother and what it was like growing up and also what it must have been like for your parents because having two footballing boys, is he the same personality type as you? No, he's totally different. Is he? He's different, yeah. He's older than me, first of all. He was a little bit more chaos than me.

12:57I was always a lot of discipline. I was like, we grew up in Switzerland, we were born in Switzerland, but our background is from Kosovo. So he was a little bit like a mix from Kosovo and Switzerland, and I was like a Swiss mentality, like discipline. I never missed any session I had when I came too late, and he was a little bit more lazy. But in the end, we shared a lot of things, positive, negative, and he was always for me here. Talk to me about your dad as well, because he sounds like he's been a huge influence, and he must be incredibly proud, because he hasn't had it easy. But to now have two sons who have played professional football.

13:41Yeah, I will be always thankful for my parents, because they grew up in Exegoslavia before, and my dad had not the easiest period of his life when he was as well three and a half year sitting in the prison because of the politics stuff, just meeting my mom and he went in the jail for three and a half years so she was there for three and a half years alone and when he came out of the situation there was two options to catch him again or to leave the country and And without language, without money, without any people around in Switzerland, to come in a new country many, many, many years ago, who, yeah, there was racism in a country as well.

14:29It was not very open to them as well to take them, to feed them. But my parents did the most of it. And they came with nothing. bring both of the sons through the right direction without any big problems in the family, without any big problems on the street and just giving us respect, giving us the discipline and just the hard work and the mentality to be humble and to respect everyone, it doesn't matter the age. How would your best friends describe you? I think I'm a very humble guy. I need to help people a lot. For myself I always I said to myself or to my missus or to my parents and to my brother, I don't need anything.

15:11I just need you guys to be happy. I just want to see the smile on the face, to give them what they need, if they need something and about myself, don't worry. I deal with myself alone because even when I had the problems with the Arsenal fans, I was dealing with myself. I never ever put my family in this part of darkness because I had dark nights, I had dark days but I never spoke about this with nobody because this is myself, this is my story and I decided to go into this professional part of football and I want everything to do for myself to take them out as well. How do you deal with the dark moments?

15:51How did you deal with that moment at Arsenal for example? Because it can be quite lonely and I imagine being a professional footballer with all the pressure on you, with everything going on, all the noise, how do you deal with that when you're at the eye of the storm? I mean with words to describe it's very very difficult because you can't change from today to tomorrow. The worst time I had was always when I was alone. Before the game in hotel or when my missus or my family was not around. Every time these things came up and I just wanted to deal with it alone. Looking to myself and say, why did this happen?

16:29Why is it me? what did I do wrong to the people because I was the captain of the football club in this time but there was too many noises and voices outside even from players that didn't expect to speak about me about this but I believe in life everything comes back and I'm just here sitting here and I'm very very happy and I just want to enjoy my my time I always ask in these interviews what people are proudest of. But also your resurgence at Arsenal and the way you came back from all of that must be one of the things that you're proudest of. Absolutely true and you can believe me or not I didn't come back to show the people that I'm still the right man for the football club because in this moment I didn't care about this.

17:18I just wanted to show myself that I can do it. I didn't do it for nobody else, just for myself and for the people I had always support for. And I get a lot of message even for people who were speaking bad about me today. We knew and you do this and you was great. But for me, this is not interesting because football can change from today and tomorrow. That's why I always say myself, even if we have this hype with Sunderland, just stay humble and don't forget where you come from because this can change very quick. What do you do on your day off? How do you escape from all of this? I like to enjoy my time with my kids as much as possible because I'm not a lot at home.

18:02We are travelling a lot and just enjoying with them. Every minute I can, I am with them. I try to pick them up, to bring them to my school and all these things, just to give them the love, what they're missing sometimes for myself. Yeah, this is the time what I'm doing. Do you have any hobbies or anything that you do? Because I know you'll say you spend time with your kids, but there must be things that you do as well for yourself. Yeah, my hobby is just watching a lot of... Don't say football. Yeah, I'm not... To be honest, I just spoke with my wife yesterday and she said, when we can change the TV and not watch the football?

18:38Because I'm watching non-league to the highest level because I'm a guy I want to learn. And I can learn from the fifth division to the Champions League level. And when my kid's sleeping, I know this is the worst time for my wife because there is just football on the TV. But yeah, just spending time with the family first of all and after football. Going back to the Emirates, how are you feeling? Yeah, it was a very emotional game already when we played at home. But I think the Emirates, they will be very, very emotional because how I say this was or is still my second home now after Sunderland for sure.

19:18because seven years to spend there, even the people that are working there have still contact with them. And yeah, I'm just looking forward for this game and hopefully that everything will go through how I wish. I actually sat down with you back in 2023 and you told me about how you nearly left Arsenal and one of the big reasons you didn't leave, you said back then, was Mikel Arteta. Are you looking forward to seeing him again? What's your relationship like with him? Absolutely. Of course, after the first game here at Sunderland, of the game we didn't have a lot of contact because of the situation and all these things.

19:53And I know how Mikkel is, so it's better to leave him alone when he draws or he loses. But for sure in Emirates, hopefully it will be different because I have a lot of respect to this guy because he was the guy who kept me in the football club. Everyone knows it and I say this one at a time and I will never forget what he did for me. I guessed before one of your proudest moments when I was talking about Arsenal, but what are you proudest of? I think I'm just proud which way I went through. To grow up in Switzerland, where it was not easy, my parents without the language, we grew up with a different language, with a different mentality.

20:31To have this mix about our background from Kosovo and to have this mix about many, many things in Switzerland where I'm very thankful to get it, about the discipline, about the respect, just makes me proud. and that I can walk wherever I go with a head up. Tell me one thing about Granit Xhaka that might surprise me. I don't know if... I hate to be alone. I don't like to be alone. Because maybe of my football career as well. Because of the moments where I had a little bit of dark nights as well maybe. So I'm a guy, if my family's not around, I need people around. For example, if my wife or my kids are not at home, I don't sleep in the bedroom.

21:17Really? No, I can't sleep in the bedroom because I feel like I'm alone. I feel like I'm... Where do you sleep? I sleep in the living room, for example. I feel very bad, you know, so maybe things like this, but... I guess you've been around people in football these years, haven't you? No, no, I'm very happy. I'm very happy that I'm around people because I think I would be not the same guy if I'm not around people. What is one thing that people get wrong about you the most? They think I'm a little bit arrogant because I'm very straightforward and very honest. If I need to say something, I will tell you in the face.

21:51Good and bad things. And maybe people take it like a little bit of arrogance, a little bit of why he's straightforward. But I grew up like this because I hate if something happened behind you or back. If you could only achieve one more thing in your career, what would it be? Everything that I achieved today, it was a big dream. And I achieved maybe much more than God wanted for me. And I'm very, very, very thankful that first of all I'm healthy. I had healthy people around me and in the future I'm not thinking about what happened in one year. I just think what happened tomorrow. So you don't look too far ahead anymore?

22:33Has that changed throughout your career? This changed a lot, yes. Because of what you've experienced, I guess. Amazing. Well, it's been a fascinating journey. Long may it continue. Best of luck. Thank you so much. Thank you.

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