Sunderland U21s won 7-1 in Europe with Dennis Cirkin, Dan Neil and Luke O’Nien in the side
Granit Xhaka has been in magnificent form for Sunderland so far this season
Keep zooming out, folks - it won’t make a ha'porth of difference. Anybody with even the lightest dusting of brain cells would tell you that Granit Xhaka has been in Sunderland’s best XI of the campaign so far, and hell, we’ve almost reached the stage where it’s taken as read that he is in the Premier League’s team of the season at the time of writing too.
But according to the number crunchers at Whoscored, it doesn’t stop there, with their reams of data suggesting that Xhaka is, in fact, sitting pretty in the best side that Europe’s top five leagues currently have to offer as well. At this rate, we’re about a fortnight away from being told that he’s occupying a spot in an intergalactic XI’s midfield trio alongside Chewbacca (marauding box-to-box engine) and E.T. (regista).
Of course, nobody on Wearside would be particularly shocked to learn that, based on current form, Xhaka is rubbing shoulders with the continent’s elite. He has been nothing short of superlative since he signed for Sunderland, and we are rapidly approaching a point at which we run the risk of exhausting the linguistic means to properly do justice to his impact.
Both on the pitch and in the dressing room, he has emerged as a beacon of leadership, an embodiment of the higher standards that the club are striving for now that they have finally returned to proverbial promised land of the Premier League.
Speaking during an appearance on talkSPORT in the wake of last weekend’s battling 2-2 draw with leaders Arsenal, pundit Martin Keown summed Xhaka’s role in Regis Le Bris’ new look squad up quite nicely, stating: “No-one more important than Granit Xhaka, by the way, and, of course, the manager, who implements that...
“I really like the way they've come up and just said, ‘You know what? We're not going to try and pass the ball out from the back’, which they can do at times when Granit tells them to, because he literally, he's there to suggest to everyone, ‘Right, keep it... Okay, go long’. He's telling everybody, orchestrating on the pitch. I've not seen anything like that ever before from a player who's so important. He has to stay fit, Granit Xhaka. If he doesn't stay fit, they will slip down the table.”
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And while it would be a little unjust to depict Sunderland’s recent surge as some kind of solo endeavour on Xhaka’s part, there is no getting away from just how good he has been. At the present moment in time, according to stats database FBRef, across the entire top flight, he is in the 91st percentile for progressive passing distance, the 89th percentile for assists, the 84th percentile for passes into the final third, the 78th percentile for shot-creating actions, the 99th percentile for clearances, the 98th percentile for successful take-ons, the 93rd percentile for aerial duels won... I could go on, but we’d be here all day.
Within that context, then, it is indeed no great surprise to see Xhaka average a match rating of 7.37 this season - the highest of any Premier League player aside from Erling Haaland - or to see him included in conversations and celebrated XIs alongside the likes of sure fire Ballon d’Or contenders such as Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe.
What does continue to boggle the mind a little, however, is that he actually, genuinely plays for Sunderland. With every passing masterclass, his presence on Wearside feels just a touch more surreal, and as he continues to carve out a place for himself amongst the very best that the European game has to offer, you can’t help but wonder how on earth the Black Cats have pulled this off.
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