Sunderland have signed Swiss midfielder, Granit Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen in a £17.3 million transfer.
The move marks Xhaka’s return to the Premier League after two seasons at Leverkusen where he scored six goals in 99 appearances following his move from Arsenal in July 2023.
Leverkusen boss, Xabi Alonso however left the club for Real Madrid at the end of last season and was replaced by ex Manchester United manager – Erik Ten Hag, which led Xhaka to seek a move once Sunderland expressed their interest in signing him to bring experience to their midfield.
Following extensive negotiations, Sunderland have paid a £13 million fixed fee but will pay a further £4.3 million in add-ons, taking the total fee to £17.3 million as Xhaka signed a three-year contract until June 2028.
Following confirmation of his move to Wearside, Xhaka spoke of his pride at securing a return to English football and seeing Sunderland back in the top flight.
“I’m very proud to be here. When I spoke to the Club, I was excited and I felt the energy, and the mentality that all the people and players have. It’s exactly what I wanted, and I have a very good feeling.
“We are back to where this Club needs to be, and we want to stay here to write our own history. I feel that I’m ready to help the team with my experience but with quality as well.
“We need to find ourselves on the pitch, but I don’t think this will be a big problem. It’s been a long time to wait, but I’m here now and I’m looking forward to it.”
Sporting Director, Kristjaan Speakman added: “We’re delighted to welcome Granit and his family to Sunderland. His arrival is a significant endorsement of our ambition and our desire to build a team our supporters can be proud of in the Premier League.
“His accomplishments and quality need little introduction – he’s a player of the highest calibre on and off the field, who we feel is the perfect match to the profile required in our team. We look forward to helping him settle on Wearside and are excited to see the impact he can make on the field and within our dressing room.”
Xhaka began his career at Concordia Basel before he joined FC Basel where he scored twice in 61 appearances, as the Swiss club won consecutive Swiss Super League titles in 2010-11 & 11-12 seasons plus Swiss Cup in the latter season.
The midfielder went on to spend four seasons with Borussia Monchengladbach between 2012 – 17, during which he managed nine goals in 139 appearances prior to a move to Arsenal in summer 2016.
Across a seven-season stint at Arsenal, Xhaka was a consistent regular in midfield with 23 goals in 297 appearances, during which the Gunners won two FA Cup and Community Shield titles apiece.
July 2023 saw Xhaka secure a move to Leverkusen who achieved an unbeaten domestic double in 2023-24 season as they clinched the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal titles without tasting a single defeat, although they did lose the Europa League Final to Atalanta that season
Last season however saw Leverkusen finish runner-up to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, but won the DFL-SuperCup title via a shootout against VfB Stuttgart after a 2-2 draw.
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