As Granit Xhaka completes his return to the Premier League with Sunderland, Ali Tweedale of Opta Analyst examines how the Switzerland international has evolved in Germany since his time at Arsenal.
In his first season after leaving Arsenal in 2023, Granit Xhaka became an integral part of the Bayer Leverkusen side that won the Bundesliga title while becoming the first team in the competition’s history to go a full season unbeaten.
Under Xabi Alonso’s guidance, Xhaka’s hugely impressive team also won the DFB-Pokal – the German cup – and very nearly won a treble, beaten for the first time all season in their 51st game, as they finally suffered defeat in the UEFA Europa League final against Atalanta.
Xhaka was a player reborn. Despite new Leverkusen head coach Erik ten Hag’s insistence that Xhaka is “too important for us to let him go”, the Switzerland international has got his way and has signed a three-year contract at Sunderland.
Why, one might ask, would Xhaka want to come back to England? Having proved his worth with Leverkusen, perhaps he feels he has unfinished business in the Premier League and, now aged 32, he wants to take the chance to show everyone who doubted him in England just how accomplished a footballer he is.
Xhaka's best Premier League goals
He showed just that in Germany, where he was a figure of consistency, composure and reliability.
He became the main man in an excellent Leverkusen side, with just about everything going through him. In 2023/24, Xhaka’s first season there, only Florian Wirtz played a role in more open-play shot-ending sequences, with 233, for Leverkusen in Bundesliga matches than him (228).
But while most of Wirtz’s involvements were him having the shot or creating the chance, Xhaka was a long way out in front for the number of sequences in which he played a part in the build-up (145). And in 50 appearances in all competitions (he missed only one game all season), he didn’t commit a single error leading to an opposition goal.
He and Leverkusen weren’t quite so imperious in 2024/25. They finished 13 points off Bayern Munich and the title race was over with weeks of the season remaining. Many of their players shone again, nevertheless; enough for Liverpool to reportedly pay big money for Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong, and for Bayern to acquire Jonathan Tah. And Xhaka, too, has now joined the exodus after another impressive campaign individually.
Again, he was among the league’s best performers. Only Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich attempted (3,425) or completed (3,183) more passes than Xhaka (2,753 and 2,500), who boasted a 90.7 per cent success rate. Among the 32 midfielders who completed more than 1,000 passes, only Bayern pair Aleksandar Pavlovic (93.2 per cent) and Leon Goretzka (92.9 per cent) found a team-mate with a greater proportion.
Xhaka doesn’t just play simple passes, though. Only two players in 2024/25 played more progressive passes than him (203), defined as passes in the attacking two-thirds of the pitch that move the ball at least 25 per cent closer to goal. Only eight players registered more assists in open play than him (seven), and he he was the only one of them who played in defensive midfield.
He takes opponents out of the game with his vision and passing ability, making more line-breaking passes (550) than any other player in the Bundesliga in 2024/25. He topped the league both for passes that broke the opposition’s midfield line, with 370, and passes that broke the opposition’s defensive line (67).
Many of his line-breaking passes were made in behind an opposition’s full-back, from a central position into an area that targeted the run of a wide player, with his total of 80 such passes that led to a cross at least 15 more than anyone else managed.
But his passes also consistently led to Leverkusen getting shots off. Only Kimmich (68) made more line-breaking passes leading to a chance within 10 seconds than Xhaka (67), while nobody played the pass before a chance was created more times in open play than him (45). His 10 secondary assists – playing the pass before the assist – was at least four more than any other player (Wirtz second on six).
Xhaka is extremely calm on the ball while under pressure, and we can use Opta Vision data to assess exactly how much he thrives with opponents in close quarters. Just looking at passes made when under ‘‘intense’’ pressure, which is defined as having an opponent with two metres of the player who is passing the ball, Xhaka completed such passes at a success rate of 90.4 per cent.
That’s almost the exact same rate as his overall pass completion rate (90.7 per cent), and he made more passes while under intense pressure (1,567) than any other player in the Bundesliga.
He has shown he can still operate at the top level, and his physical stats give further evidence that the 32-year-old, who turns 33 in September, is not feeling the effects of his age.
It’s often said that the most technically gifted deep-lying midfielders can play longer into their 30s than those in any other outfield position because they rely on their quick mind more than quick feet, and while that is true for Xhaka, he also showed last season that he isn’t on a downwards trajectory just yet.
According to the Bundesliga’s official website, only four players covered more ground than him (378.2km) all season. He is constantly on the move and works extremely hard, both to offer a passing option to a team-mate and to win the ball back. Only four players – all of them attackers – won possession in the final third more times than Xhaka (25).
His disciplinary record, which was a problem while he was in England, has improved, suggesting perhaps he has matured in his time away.
He was booked just three times in 33 Bundesliga games last season, which is a remarkable rate for any central midfielder.
But aside from his temperament, the player who steps out in red and white for a Premier League team this season is unquestionably different to the one who we last saw in red and white in this country. He has developed into an all-round more complete player.
How will he deal with the pressure of a return to England? How will he fare playing in a less dominant team than any other he has played for in his professional career? Sunderland averaged just 48.6 per cent possession in the Championship last season, and that number is surely going to drop in 2025/26.
And how will Xhaka respond in the firepit of one of the game’s biggest and fiercest rivalries - the Tyne-Wear derby against Newcastle United?
But this new, more mature Xhaka could rise above it all, which would only benefit his new side. With much to prove in this country, Sunderland should be far better off with him in their team.