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Swiss newspaper "Blick": Is Granit Xhaka the most influential footballer in the world?

2025-11-24 13:19:19Sport SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Swiss newspaper "Blick": Is Granit Xhaka the most influential
Granit Xhaka

For the past eight years, it has been a tacit assumption in Swiss football: Xherdan Shaqiri was the star, but Granit Xhaka was the one who kept the system alive. Today, with his performances for Sunderland and Switzerland, the assumption is no longer part of the debate - it is a fact, writes Swiss newspaper " Blick ".

Therefore, the question must be asked: Is Granit Xhaka the most influential footballer in the world? Not necessarily the best technically, but the one who changes a team from the ground up.

Xhaka, the son of parents from Kosovo, has always been endowed with an innate sense of responsibility. Since childhood, he was a “natural leader” - a role that was later strengthened through the challenges and blows that accompanied his career. From the early talent displayed in the Danone Cup finals, to the U-17 world title, to his debut at FC Basel - everything showed that Granit was no ordinary player. Although he has often faced criticism, sometimes harsh, he has reacted with an almost stubborn strength. At Borussia Mönchengladbach he learned that words are only worth if they are backed up by facts. At Arsenal, after a difficult period with cards, controversies and especially the incident with fans in 2019, a conversation with Mikel Arteta revived his career.

He worked on himself, changed, grew, and became an undisputed leader.

Today, Xhaka is a rare example of a footballer who is worth much more than statistics. He is standard, rhythm, structure.

At Sunderland, a team that was expected to fight for survival, he created a transformation that the English media called “phenomenal”. He sets the tone in training, keeps the team together and pushes it to a level that no one expected. In Switzerland, meanwhile, he is the conductor of an orchestra that functions to his own pulse. When Xhaka is good, Switzerland is good.

Even when he doesn't take the stage for himself, he creates space for others to shine, as happened against Kosovo and Sweden.

For a while, there were doubts about his role as a "teamplayer", especially after some controversies in the matches against Serbia or the tattoo episode before Euro 2021. But in recent years he has become a more measured, more strategic figure - without losing his indispensable aggressiveness.

The relationship with Switzerland coach Murat Yakin has stabilized; his influence on the group is so great that the words Xhaka says in training become the motto for the entire team.

His influence goes beyond the field.

He is more than a leader today - he is the "architect of mentality", the man who raises the standard and forces the entire team to rise with him. At a time when many stars depend on statistics and social networks, Xhaka is the footballer old in spirit, but modern in approach: dedicated, disciplined, unstoppable.

So the question is no longer provocative, but valid: Is there a footballer in the world today who changes a team more than Granit Xhaka? His technique is not the absolute best. But the impact he has - on clubs, on Switzerland, on the players around him - makes him unique.

And the end of this story may not be written yet. Xhaka is already working on his coaching license. In the future, he could become as important from the bench as he is today on the pitch. As Yakin says: “He thinks like a coach. And that’s how he leads the Swiss national team.”

Form is temporary, but Granit Xhaka's influence seems to last much longer, writes "Blick".


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