The former Arsenal midfielder praised Arteta’s affect on his profession and stated he’s “cheering for sure” for his previous membership.
The Times, 9 May 2026
Granit Xhaka has made clear he needs Arsenal to win the Premier League title, with the previous Gunners midfielder saying Mikel Arteta’s facet “deserve” to finish the membership’s 22-year wait.
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Xhaka spent seven years in north London and stays intently related to the membership, not least due to the position Arteta performed in rebuilding his Arsenal profession after one in all its darkest moments.
The 33-year-old, now captain of Sunderland, was requested concerning the title race and left little question about the place his help lies.
“Mikel is a very special person for me,” Xhaka said. “Without him I don’t think I will be here, where we are sitting today. I started to learn football in different way because of him.
“He prepares you so good that when you go on the pitch, you can really close your eyes and you know where the opponent is and you know where your team-mate is. I’m cheering for sure for Arsenal, but as well for the guys who deserved all season. I think we can be very open: Arsenal deserve to win the title.”
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
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That verdict carries weight from a participant whose Arsenal story was almost over in 2019, when he was substituted by Unai Emery at Emirates Stadium, took off his shirt and captain’s armband, and upset the Arsenal supporters.
Arteta changed Emery later that 12 months and stored Xhaka on the membership, serving to him develop into a key determine once more earlier than his transfer to Bayer Leverkusen.
Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images
“The darkness [after the substitution by Emery] was only when I was alone, but it was a nice darkness because I learnt a lot from it,” he says.
Xhaka left Arsenal in 2023 after serving to to drive the early levels of Arteta’s rebuild, and his respect for the supervisor has clearly endured. His feedback additionally underline how far Arsenal have come since that interval, from a facet in hassle to at least one now closing in on the league title.
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He additionally spoke about his teaching ambitions and revealed that each Xabi Alonso and Arteta had given him the identical recommendation about his enjoying profession.
“I spoke with Xabi [Alonso] – ‘When was the point you had the feeling you want to be from a player to coach?’ I would ask him. ‘Play as long as possible,’ he would say. Mikel [Arteta] said the same.”
Xhaka has simply been named Sunderland’s Player of the Season and, at 33, he nonetheless has a number of years left in him. His Sunderland contract runs till 2028, just some months earlier than his thirty sixth birthday. His older brother, Taulant, retired in the summertime aged 34.