Granit Xhaka starts his 15th professional season on Saturday - and experiences a premiere. With Sunderland, the Swiss national team captain will probably be playing against relegation for the first time in his career.
14.08.2025, 09:49
14.08.2025, 11:03
SDA
Granit Xhaka should know exactly what he has got himself into with his somewhat surprising transfer from Bayer Leverkusen to Sunderland. After all, he spent seven years with Arsenal and knows football on the island inside out.
The statistics and the bookmakers are skeptical. In the last two seasons, all three promoted teams had to go straight back down to the second tier - their fate was usually sealed long before the last matchday. The pundits are expecting little else in the coming season - and Sunderland are even pretty unanimously placed in 20th and last place.
Xhaka also captain at Sunderland
The extremely ambitious Xhaka will therefore have to make another change at the age of 32. With FC Basel, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen, two 8th places were the worst finishes of his career. Now the Swiss record international is taking on a task worthy of a Hercules. He is supposed to enable a young, inexperienced squad to hold their own in the Premier League.
"I love the challenge," Xhaka emphasized after signing a three-year contract at Sunderland. "And this is perhaps the biggest challenge of my career." Shortly before the start of the season, the Swiss national team captain was also promoted to the role at Sunderland.
The Basel native believes that the mentality at Sunderland suits him. The area in England's (former) industrial belt does not offer the glamor of London or the glamorous seaside resorts of Brighton.
In the 19th century, Sunderland was considered the "shipbuilding capital of the world", but the last shipyard closed in 1988, followed five years later by the last coal mine. At times, the unemployment rate was over 20 percent.
Tourists never stray into Sunderland, so to speak, but the region's enthusiasm for the Black Cats is huge. "I can feel the energy of the people," enthused Xhaka after just a few days. The club's best days were many years ago. Between 1892 and 1936, Sunderland won the championship six times and then the Cup in 1973. Various promotions and relegations followed in the championship, in 2017 to the second division and a year later even to the third division.
Money from Zurich
Since the Zurich billionaire Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, heir to former Adidas boss Robert Louis-Dreyfus, joined the club in February 2021, things have been looking up again. A year later, he returned to the Championship and now to the Premier League. At Leverkusen, where he would have had a three-year contract, Xhaka won the league and cup the season before last; he would also have played Champions League football with Leverkusen in the new season. He was also closer to Basel's home in the Bundesliga. There are no regular flights to Switzerland from the north-east of England.
"I had the feeling that I needed another challenge, a big challenge, a project," says Xhaka, explaining his move. "That's exactly what I'm finding here." Despite investing over 130 million francs, it will be a fight for survival in the Premier League for Sunderland. Above all, there seems to be (too) little quality in attack. The 49-year-old French head coach Régis Le Bris, whose contract has just been prematurely extended, also has hardly any experience at the highest level.
False start forbidden
The start will be groundbreaking for Sunderland. On Saturday, the Black Cats will face West Ham United at home in the first serious match of the new season, followed a week later by fellow promoted side Burnley away from home. Both are teams that are also likely to be fighting against relegation.
In the fall of 2016, the last time Sunderland played in the Premier League, they picked up just two points from their first ten games. Xhaka's new team cannot afford to make such a false start, otherwise they could face the same fate as nine years ago.
