How Midfield Star Became the Signing of the Summer in the Premier League – Updated

When Granit Xhaka left Arsenal in the summer of 2023, few expected him to ever to return to the Premier League. He wasn’t getting any younger – and with lucrative options at his disposal, many assumed his time in England was over.

However, he made a shock move back to the Premier League to join Sunderland for a fee of £13 million. His harsher critics questioned whether he still had his legs, while others believed that the Black Cats had secured themselves a major coup.

Ultimately, the people in the latter camp would be proven right. Xhaka has been excellent so far at the Stadium of Light, adding technical mastery and midfield generalship to the heart of their squad.

Let’s take a look at Xhaka’s story at Sunderland so far and examine just how much he has improved them since joining the club.

Joining a team in transition

Sunderland did not look like a team prepared for the Premier League upon their promotion to England’s top division back in May. They finished fourth in the league table, 24 points behind the automatic promotion spots.

Additionally, two of their key players left the club soon after this. Jobe Bellingham followed in his brother’s footsteps to join Borussia Dortmund, while Tommy Watson – the man who scored the winning goal at Wembley – was poached by Brighton.

Therefore, major reinforcements were necessary. One area that promoted teams often struggle in is central midfield – as such, the Black Cats set about bolstering their ranks in the middle of the park.

As well as Xhaka, they also signed Noah Sadiki and Habib Diarra. They are perfect compliments to what the Swiss international offers, given their dynamism off the ball and limitless stamina.

Xhaka’s midfield revolution at Sunderland

Sadiki and Diarra are good players, but they cannot match the impact that Xhaka has had at Sunderland so far. As things stand, he has completed 72 accurate long passes for the Black Cats in 2025/26, putting him 9th in the division for this criteria.

On top of this, he has also played 62 passes into the final third and has completed 16 key passes over the course of the season. His passing ability, combined with his intelligence off the ball, make him invaluable to the system that Regis le Bris is trying to implement.

Le Bris likes his players to be adaptable, as he often lines up in accordance with his opponents. It is difficult to pigeon hole him in a specific style because of this.

For an experienced pro like Xhaka, this is no problem. He has seen it all in football, having played under a plethora of elite managers – he is proving that he is exactly the kind of player that Sunderland need.

Is Xhaka the signing of the summer? Players such as Joao Pedro, Jaidon Anthony and Nick Woltemade have also been impressive, but none have improved their respective teams as much as Xhaka has. Without him, the BlackCats could very well be fighting relegation.

Update

After the come from behind 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Saturday it just shows how important Granit Xhaka is to Sunderland as he was influential in the way the BlackCats never gave up, pushing for the equaliser in injury time at the end of the 2nd half.

Xhaka certainly came back to haunt his old club as Arsenal conceded their first goals since September and Sunderland refused to lose.

The preseason relegation favourites went 1-0 up through ex Arsenal academy product Dan Ballard in the 1st half who learned his football with the Gunners from the age of 8 going through the ranks before being cut loose. So it meant a lot to the young man and rightly so.

Sunderland then went 2-1 down to the Gunners in the 2nd half as Saka and then Trossard put the PL leaders 2-1 up with a thunderous strike that looked like the winner.

Enter Brian Brobbey who popped up with the dramatic 94th minute equaliser to steal a point with the 2-2 draw. What a signing midfielder Xhaka is proving to be as his team now sit in 4th in the table on goal difference.