Less than five years ago, Sunderland’s midfield consisted of Max Power, George Dobson, and Josh Scowen. These names are synonymous with the lowest period in our history, and for not being able to end that particular period sooner. A month into our Premier League return, and our club captain is a man with over 550 club appearances and multiple trophies under his belt. Granit Xhaka has led us out in every league game this season, but what is most promising is that he’s taken no time at all to settle
in. The period around Xhaka signing felt like a proper old school transfer saga. There was a real ‘will he sign/won’t he sign’ feeling around things, and even when it was revealed he asked for the transfer, it still didn’t feel genuine. His boss at the time, Erik Ten Hag, insisted he wouldn’t join Sunderland, and two months later, Xhaka moved to Wearside and Ten Hag was out of a job.
One of a swathe of summer transfers, the Swiss midfielder has been put into a side that is filled with pace, meaning that he can pull the strings from a role in front of the back four. In the early stages of the season, this seems to be suiting him and Sunderland down to the ground.
Our promotion to the Premier League came with a call for more experience to be added to the squad, with even the usually hard-to-read Regis Le Bris dropping some large hints during pre-season on this subject. Xhaka wasn’t the first experienced profile through the door over the summer, and he wasn’t the last – but he was the player who made us and other football fans sit up and go ‘how the f*** have Sunderland signed him?’
Xhaka has been a club captain for a lot of his career, and it seems like part of the deal to bring him to Wearside was to continue this tradition. On and off the pitch, he looks every part the premium player we signed him to be and although he’s 33 later this month, he’s already showing why the club pushed so hard to bring him in.
On the recent Ha’way The Podcast episode with Tyne Tees Sports reporter Simon O’Rourke, Xhaka’s commitment to being a leading figure in all walks of the club shone through. Simon spoke of how he saw our new skipper pull over to one side outside the Academy of Light, get out, and sign autographs and pose for photos with fans. This is something he and other players don’t need to do, but it’s an act that will have meant too much to fans who were there.
We’ve started this season well, but there will be bumps in the road in the days to come. When these happen, the best teams come out the other side because they’ve got big characters and strong personalities in the squad.
Xhaka fits this bill well, and along with some of the other experienced players drafted in, the pieces are all there for a well-drilled, well-disciplined team.
We saw both of these elements on show in our hard earned 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace, and we’ll have other away days like that where our experienced heads, led by Xhaka, grind us through to a result.
