Granit Xhaka has shone for Sunderland but will face his former club Arsenal this weekend for the first time since leaving the Emirates Stadium in 2023
Granit Xhaka during a Sunderland game
Granit Xhaka has been one of Sunderland's standout performers since his move to the club in the summer
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Granit Xhaka says two important conversations with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta have made him the player Sunderland fans see in action today.
The Swiss international spent seven years playing for the Gunners and holds the club close to his heart, but was infamously involved with an on-field spat with Arsenal supporters who cheered when he was substituted against Crystal Palace back in October 2019.
He was stripped of the club's captaincy and his departure seemed inevitable under Unai Emery, before some divine intervention from Mikel Arteta, who took over from his fellow countryman in December 2019.
Reflecting on how Arteta rehabilitated him, the Black Cats star was full of admiration for the Arsenal manager. Speaking to The Athletic, he referred to the confrontation with supporters as a "misunderstanding."
"It was bigger than that, absolutely, for sure. I don't need to lie about it. Everyone knows the story. I still don't know what exactly happened this day and why, let's say that.
"When Mikel came, he had a very open conversation with myself. My luggage was already done (packed). I was ready to leave. I already had a contract on the table from another football club.
"Mikel had two conversations with me and he convinced me to stay, to give me another chance. He wanted to show me that I am in the right place. From this day, I just had the feeling that every word he told me in this first conversation, everything was exactly like he said.
"That's why I say that in 2019, when Mikel came, he changed me completely - as a human being, on the pitch, outside the pitch. But every year Mikel was doing new things, every year he brings something.
"And if you look at them in these first 10 games this season, they look very stable with and without the ball. I'm not surprised, I know how they work."
Granit Xhaka celebrates after equalising for Sunderland against Everton.
Granit Xhaka has been superb for Sunderland this season
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Xhaka racked up 297 appearances for Arsenal during his time in north London, netting 23 goals and providing 29 assists while claiming two FA Cup titles before moving to Bayer Leverkusen in 2023.
He'd win a memorable Bundesliga title and DFB-Pokal, and finish as runner-up in the Europa League in 2023-24 before sealing a surprise move to Wearside this summer.
He's shown no sign of slowing down and has been one of Sunderland's standout performers, driving standards both on and off the pitch, scoring his first goal of the season against Everton on Monday Night.
When asked what his favourite memory in red and white is to date, Xhaka said: “It was the first day I came here, for sure — the first time I walked through this door. It was the feeling here.
"I believe in first steps and making your first steps into the dressing room, you need to have a positive feeling. I felt it. The first steps are important.
"You have to feel like you’re at home. This is our place, we’re here from nine until three most days and if you don’t feel it when you come inside this place, it’s not so good. But I didn’t have that, I felt positive. There were not a lot of people here; not a lot of players, but the people I met on the first day were very positive, exactly what I was looking for.
"After that, you are building day by day to get the feeling and after 10 games, if someone told us we’d be here with 18 points, they would laugh. But we knew what the club is building, what it’s looking for. Where we are, it is deserved."