00:00.
00:04Switzerland veteran Granit Xhaka is responsible for one of the more unlikely redemptive arcs in modern Premier League history.
00:14When the now 33-year-old left Arsenal in 2023, it seemed to outsiders as though the combative midfielder was
00:22starting to wind down his career.
00:25But Xhaka is not one for taking a backwards step.
00:30Instead of fading from the limelight, Xhaka was integral to Bayer Leverkusen completing an entire domestic campaign undefeated.
00:39One ending with the club's maiden Bundesliga title and second DFB-Pokal.
00:44I loved every minute that we spent together.
00:48When I joined, he was in a special moment of his life and his career.
00:55Between all of us, we tried to guide him, to give him a different perspective, to make him feel loved,
01:02valued and he responded in an incredible way.
01:06So, he made me a better coach. He helped us to develop and improve a lot as a football team
01:13and as a club.
01:15And I will be eternally grateful because I have great memories with him.
01:19After two seasons in Germany, Xhaka ventured back to England and proved instrumental in underdog Sunderland prospering on their return
01:28to the top flight after an eight-year absence.
01:32The balance is very positive and Granit is the captain. So, he set the standards every day.
01:37So, it's so important when you start a new career, you can be really talented, really skilled, but you don't
01:45know what are the standards to succeed at the best level.
01:49So, he set this example every day. On the pitch, he's a really good footballer and he likes and enjoys
01:57driving the behaviour of the squad.
02:01So, it's like a second coach on the pitch and I think he's really well connected with the young lads
02:08as well.
02:10All the while, Xhaka has been a workhorse for Switzerland, earning at least six international caps each year since his
02:17debut season of 2011.
02:22I think we are the best Switzerland national team that has ever existed, with Granit as captain.
02:33Xhaka has been earmarked for greatness since starring in the Switzerland team that won the Under-17 World Cup in
02:392009.
02:45A prodigy with FC Basel, he was dubbed by the great Ottmar Hitzfeldt as the Swiss Bastien Schweinsteiger.
02:54The move to the Bundesliga soon followed and by the age of 22 he was made captain of Borussia Mönchengladbach.
03:02He responded by leading the club to Champions League qualification.
03:09The inevitable mega-money move arrived in 2016 when Arsenal, long criticised for a lack of leadership and industry in
03:18midfield, splashed the cash.
03:21I'm very happy to be here and for me it's a dream, it's come true and I'm happy.
03:30Once again, Xhaka rose to assume the club's captaincy.
03:35First, he's mature and he has experience and we are living every time under pressure, under criticism.
03:49As a coach, as a player, as a club.
03:52But really the most important is to stand up each moment.
03:59Despite winning a couple of FA Cups in North London, Xhaka was repeatedly at odds with the Arsenal faithful.
04:05Singled out for criticism during a fallow period for the club and stripped of the captaincy after one altercation too
04:12many.
04:14But that iteration of the box-to-box dynamo seems a lifetime ago.
04:20Rejuvenated by Xavi Alonso, emboldened by Regis Labrie and backed by Murat Yakin, he has become Switzerland's record cap winner.
04:31The now veteran Granit Xhaka is ready to embark on his fourth World Cup in the form of his life.
04:38Confident of steering the Swiss to at least the round of 16 for the fourth time in a row.
04:44He has been flipped by a few minutes here.
04:44The father of his wife, the father of the New Yorker.
04:44But yet the family, his wife, the mother of the old woman.
04:45The mother of the female ex-pencil.
04:45The brother of the man in the ground was very well.
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