Granit Xhaka's Journey: From Arsenal to Sunderland's New Standard
Granit Xhaka has worked for some of the sharpest minds in modern football. Arsène Wenger, Unai Emery, Mikel Arteta, Xabi Alonso – his CV reads like a coaching hall of fame. From Basel to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Arsenal to Bayer Leverkusen, the Swiss midfielder has lived inside the tactical laboratories of three major European leagues.
So when Xhaka says a manager reminds him of Wenger, people listen.
“The small Arsène Wenger”
On the eve of Sunderland’s heavyweight meeting with Arsenal, Xhaka could not hide his admiration for the man now steering his career on Wearside, Régis Le Bris.
"I call him like the small Arsene Wenger," he told TNT Sports. The comparison is not thrown around lightly. Wenger shaped Xhaka’s early Premier League years; Le Bris is shaping his late prime.
"As a human being, he's top," Xhaka said. "He's very calm, he's not a guy who screams, he has all the solutions and tactically, he's amazing. And even for him, to get a new team, now again with new players, I believe is not easy.
"But he showed himself that he is a great manager, he showed himself that he can improve this team, the players. And myself, I'm very thankful that I can have a coach like him."
That gratitude is rooted in what has happened since Le Bris walked into the Stadium of Light last summer and made Xhaka his statement signing from Leverkusen. It was a transfer that announced Sunderland’s ambition: no longer just happy to be back in the Premier League, but determined to stay, compete, and climb.
Sunderland’s new standard
The impact was immediate. In their first season back in the top flight, Sunderland did not merely survive. They surged.
Xhaka, wearing the armband, drove them to a stunning seventh-place finish and a Europa League spot, shredding most pre-season predictions in the process. The club that had clawed its way out of the lower leagues suddenly found itself back on Thursday nights in Europe, playing with a structure and confidence that reflected the man in the dugout.
Ask Xhaka what separates Le Bris from the elite managers he has already known, and one word keeps surfacing: detail.
"He's very detailed. So if he analyses something - not just the opponent, but even us and more the individual meetings - he's very detailed," Xhaka explained. "He goes into details that I haven't seen often in a coach. So every player here has improved over the last 16 months and I think there is still space to improve for everyone."
This is where Le Bris leaves his mark. Training sessions at the club’s base are not just drills; they are forensic studies. Opponents are dissected, but so are Sunderland themselves. Individual meetings drill into habits, movements, decisions. Nothing is too small. Nothing is ignored.
The result, Xhaka insists, is visible on the pitch.
The captain as conduit
Within that framework, Xhaka is more than just a midfielder. He is the hinge between the manager’s ideas and the dressing room’s execution.
As the most experienced player in the squad, he sets the tone. His passing range helps Sunderland control games, but his influence stretches far beyond his left foot. He is the voice that carries Le Bris’ tactical demands to younger teammates, the standard-bearer when intensity drops or focus wavers.
"If I'm not the guy who's taking the first step, who is following me?" he said. "I'm a guy who demands a lot from himself. This is the first thing I demand from myself.
"I never show the finger first to others before I show it to myself. Sometimes people forget about the difference between demanding and complaining because, for me, these are two pairs of shoes.
"I want to win. And I want to win if I'm at home, I want to win when I'm on the pitch in training, and I want to win in the weekend games as well. This is me."
That mentality has bled into a squad that had to learn quickly what it means to live at Premier League pace. Under Le Bris, with Xhaka as captain, Sunderland have found a new identity: organised, relentless, and quietly ambitious.
A reunion with Arsenal – and a reality check
Now comes the emotional twist. Arsenal. The club where Xhaka grew from a divisive figure into a respected leader. The club now driven by Mikel Arteta, another of the managers who shaped his career.
This is not just another fixture for the Swiss captain. It is a measuring stick.
The Gunners arrive with a perfect start to the season and a title charge very much alive. To stop them, Sunderland will need every ounce of the meticulous planning that Xhaka has been raving about.
His midfield partnership with Diarra and Sadiki will be central. Break Arsenal’s rhythm, disrupt their patterns, and Sunderland give themselves a chance. Allow Arteta’s side to dictate, and the evening could quickly turn long and unforgiving.
Xhaka knows both worlds. He knows the tempo Arteta demands, the rotations, the pressing triggers. He also knows what Le Bris will have prepared to counter it.
Between those two influences, Sunderland step into this clash with something they have not always had against the league’s heavyweights: belief grounded in structure.
The supporters will bring the noise. Xhaka, for his part, offered them a simple promise ahead of the reunion with his old club and his old manager’s title-chasing team.
"We will never give up."
Under the “small Arsène Wenger” on the touchline and Xhaka’s iron will in midfield, Sunderland now look like a side determined to make that more than just a slogan.
