Granit Xhaka

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Granit Xhaka
File:Xhakabmg.jpg
Xhaka playing for Mönchengladbach in 2012
Personal information
Full name Granit Xhaka[1]
Date of birth (1992-09-27) 27 September 1992 (age 31)
Place of birth Basel, Switzerland
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Arsenal
Number 29
Youth career
2000–2002 Concordia Basel
2002–2010 Basel
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2012 Basel 44 (1)
2012–2016 Borussia Mönchengladbach 108 (6)
2016– Arsenal 0 (0)
International career‡
2008–2009 Switzerland U17 14 (1)
2009–2010 Switzerland U18 14
2010–2011 Switzerland U19 10 (3)
2010–2011 Switzerland U21 5 (0)
2011– Switzerland 41 (6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12:46, 25 May 2016 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:46, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Granit Xhaka (Albanian pronunciation: [ɡɾaˈnit ˈdʒaka]; born 27 September 1992) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club Arsenal. Swiss national manager Ottmar Hitzfeld once dubbed him the "young Schweinsteiger",[3][4] while former Arsenal defender Johan Djourou has praised his tackling, versatility, and physicality, also comparing his passing range to that of Andrea Pirlo.[5]

Xhaka began his career at hometown club Basel, winning the Swiss Super League in both of his seasons. He then moved to Bundesliga team Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2012, playing 140 official games and scoring nine goals.

He has been a full international for Switzerland since 2011, and has gaining more than 40 caps, and was included in their squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Early life

Xhaka was born in Basel, Switzerland[6][7][8][9] to Kosovo Albanian parents and is the younger brother of Taulant Xhaka, who is also a professional footballer. Their family moved from Kosovo to Switzerland shortly before their children were born.[10]

Club career

The brothers started their youth football by Concordia Basel and both moved to Basel in 2002. Xhaka played for various Basel youth teams and since 2008 has been a member of the U-21 squad. Between 2008 and 2010 he played 37 games for the U-21 team, scoring eleven goals.[11]

Basel

Former Basel coach Thorsten Fink once said. "Xherdan Shaqiri is the best talent in Switzerland...after Granit Xhaka."[3] Whilst the Swiss National Football Coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld, has dubbed him the 'young Schweinsteiger.'[3]

Since the beginning of the 2010–11 season, Xhaka played for the Basel first team. He made his first team debut in the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League in the away match against Debreceni VSC in the Szusza Ferenc Stadium. Towards the end of the game he scored the second goal in Basel’s 2–0 victory. He scored his first Super League goal in the 5–1 home win against FC Thun on 15 May 2011.[12] At the end of the 2010–11 season, Xhaka won the Super League Championship title with Basel and at the end of the 2011–12 season he won the Double, the League Championship title[13] and the Swiss Cup[14] with the club.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

On 18 May 2012, Basel announced on their homepage that Xhaka had agreed terms with Lucien Favre's Borussia Mönchengladbach. After medical checks were completed, the teenager signed a five-year deal with the club. The transfer fee was not disclosed by Mönchengladbach, but is estimated to be in the region of €8.5 million.[15]

Xhaka made his debut in a DFB-Pokal first round match against Alemannia Aachen on 18 August 2012. Three days later, he made his first appearance in European competition for Borussia in 1–3 home lost to FC Dynamo Kyiv in qualification for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League. On 25 August, he made his Bundesliga debut in the team's opening match of the season, a 2–1 home win against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. He scored his first and only goal of the season in a 3–2 loss at 1. FC Nürnberg.[16]

In his second season at the club, Xhaka started 29 times and made five substitute appearances as Gladbach finished in sixth place in the Bundesliga.[16]

In 2014–15, Xhaka started all 34 Bundesliga matches for Borussia[16] and was named in the league's team of the season.[17] Borussia finished in third place to qualify for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League.

On 23 September 2015, Xhaka captained Borussia and scored his first goal of the season, heading in from Raffael's free kick in a 4–2 win over FC Augsburg. In the next match, against VfB Stuttgart, Xhaka again captained the side and scored a goal in a 3–1 win. On 30 September, he made his first appearance for Borussia in the Champions League proper in a 1–2 group stage loss at home to Manchester City.[16]

Arsenal

On 25 May 2016, Arsenal signed Granit Xhaka from Borussia Mönchengladbach for a fee of around £30–35 million.[18][19][20]

International career

Switzerland youth squads

Xhaka has played for Swiss youth squad at the U-17 level. He participated in the Under-17 World Cup in 2009 in Nigeria. The Swiss team won the World Cup.[21]

He played his first game for the Switzerland national under-19 football team on 25 May 2010, as a substitute, as the team beat Austria national under-19 football team 3–2 in the Schwaz, Austria. He scored his first goal for the U-19 on 7 September 2010 as the team won 3–0 against the Czech Republic.

Switzerland under-21

Xhaka played his first game for the Switzerland national under-21 football team on 3 September 2010, as a substitute, as the team beat Republic of Ireland under-21 national football team 1–0 in the Cornaredo Stadium, Lugano.[22] This was the last game in the qualification Group 2 to the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. Xhaka was member of the Swiss U-21 squad that competed in the final tournament, hosted by Denmark, between 11 and 25 June 2011. The Swiss team reached the final without conceding a goal, but lost to Spain U-21 2–0.

Switzerland senior team

File:Suisse vs Argentine - Granit Xhaka & Lionel Messi.jpg
Xhaka (left) challenging Lionel Messi for the ball during an international friendly between Switzerland and Argentina on 29 February 2012.

Before making his international debut for Switzerland, Xhaka was still undecided whether to play for his birth country or Albania, and he complained to the Albanian sports media that FSHF was ignoring him while the Swiss Football Association was showing much more interest.[23]

Xhaka debuted for Switzerland at Wembley Stadium against England, in a 2–2 UEFA Euro 2012 qualification draw on 4 June 2011.[24] On 15 November of the same year, during his sixth international appearance, he scored his first international goal in the 1–0 away win against Luxembourg in Stade Josy Barthel.[25]

Switzerland also tried to select him to participate in the 2012 Olympic Football tournament, but he opted to stay at his new club for pre-season training.[26] Xhaka participated in all ten of Switzerland's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign matches, scoring both goals in a 2–0 defeat of Slovenia.[27]

On 2 June 2014, Xhaka was named in Switzerland's 2014 FIFA World Cup squad by national coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.[28] In the team's second match, Xhaka scored in a 5–2 loss to France.[29]

Career statistics

Club

As of 25 May 2016[30]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Basel 2010–11 Super League 19 1 2 0 – 5 1 26 2
2011–12 23 0 4 0 – 8 0 35 0
Total 42 1 6 0 – 13 1 61 2
Borussia Mönchengladbach 2012–13 Bundesliga 22 1 2 0 – 9 0 33 1
2013–14 28 0 1 0 – – 29 0
2014–15 30 2 3 0 – 9 3 42 5
2015–16 28 3 3 0 – 5 0 36 3
Total 108 6 9 0 – 23 3 140 9
Arsenal 2016–17 Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career totals 150 7 15 0 0 0 36 4 201 11

International

As of match played on 29 March 2016.[31]
Switzerland national team
Year Apps Goals
2011 6 1
2012 9 2
2013 8 1
2014 10 1
2015 6 1
2016 2 0
Total 41 6

International goals

Scores and results table. Switzerland's goal tally first:
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 15 November 2011 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg  Luxembourg 1–0 1–0 Friendly
2 15 August 2012 Stadion Poljud, Split, Croatia  Croatia 1–0 4–2 Friendly
3 7 September 2012 Stadion Stožice, Ljubljana, Slovenia  Slovenia 1–0 2–0 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification
4 15 October 2013 Stade de Suisse, Bern, Switzerland  Slovenia 1–0 1–0 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification
5. 20 June 2014 Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil  France 2–5 2–5 2014 FIFA World Cup
6. 27 March 2015 Swissporarena, Lucerne, Switzerland  Estonia 2–0 3–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying

Honours

Club

Basel

International

Switzerland

Individual

  • Credit Suisse Youth Player of the Year: 2012[33]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://www.borussia.de/de/team-saison/die-fohlenelf/spielerkader.html
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ http://www.borussia.de/english/season/first-team/squad.html
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Granit Xhaka at National-Football-Teams.comLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ http://www.soccerway.com/players/granit-xhaka/102647/
  31. ↑ http://www.soccerway.com/players/granit-xhaka/102647/
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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