‘The first thing I said was I’m not coming here to go down’

In the latest episode of The Football Interview from BBC Sport, Granit Xhaka speaks about the conversations he had with Sunderland before joining the club last summer.

Xhaka swapped Bayer Leverkusen – with whom he won the German title in 2024 – for the newly-promoted Black Cats.

And that decision has paid off for Xhaka, who has helped Sunderland into the top half of the table with about a third of the season left to play.

“You hope everything will go the way you think,” said the former Arsenal midfielder.

“When I spoke to the club, the first thing I said was I’m not coming here to play in the Premier League for one year and to go down, because I’m leaving a Champions League club and a champion team like Leverkusen.

“[I said] I’m coming here to push this project that the club has, with my experience, my leadership and the work I’m doing every day to show the new generation that even when you’re tired, sometimes you can push through.

“This period we’ve had in the winter, with all these games and we missed several players at Afcon as well, was a great experience for the dressing room.”

Source: RhinoEasy News