Granit Xhaka has ruled out a summer move from Sunderland, saying he feels “a bit like home” in the city and is not giving a transfer “a second thought.” The 33-year-old midfielder said his family are settled in the north-east and that he is finally looking at a summer without speculation over his future.
Xhaka’s comments land now because he is heading into a World Cup summer as one of Sunderland’s most important players, and because European reports had linked him with Juventus and Besiktas despite his own insistence that he is not thinking about leaving. He said Sunderland reminds him of Basel and of St. Johann, the neighbourhood where he grew up, adding that he can only play at his best when he feels at home somewhere.
For Sunderland, that is a significant statement from a player who arrived last summer and quickly became central to the club’s rise. Xhaka was named Sunderland’s Player of the Year after a season in which the newly promoted side finished seventh and qualified for the Europa League, with his influence stretching well beyond one position on the pitch. The club treated him like a figurehead after the final-day win over Chelsea, when Sunderland fans sang his name before his post-match speech and he stood on the Stadium of Light turf with his family.
Xhaka said the biggest factor in his decision is not footballing ambition but domestic stability. “For me, the most important thing is that my family is happy,” he said. “And we are happy in Sunderland.” That is the clearest answer yet to the speculation that followed a summer in which some European outlets wrongly suggested he was heading for another move, even though he said he is glad to have a rare close season without the noise that has followed him in recent years.
The wider picture is hard to miss. Xhaka is 33 and in the latter stages of a career that has already taken him through spells at FC Basel, Borussia Monchengladbach, Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen, but Sunderland have given him a home base that seems to suit him. He is one of 11 Sunderland players set to feature at the upcoming World Cup, and his immediate next major stage is clear. What is not yet known is how long that home feeling will keep him at Sunderland beyond this summer.
