Granit Xhaka has had his ups and downs in his career, but no one predicted where the player with Kosovo origins would end up today.
The Albanian midfielder with a Swiss passport amazed everyone in his last season at Arsenal, leaving critics speechless with his play, but by then it was too late for the London club to convince the player to stay.
The 31-year-old decided to end his adventure in North London and return to the Bundesliga, the league where he had secured his move to the Gunners.
However, this time was different, as he did not return to Borussia Monchengladbach but joined Bayer Leverkusen.
Under the orders of Xabi Alonso, Xhaka, along with his teammates, won the Bundesliga undefeated, suffering their first loss in the Europa League final against a perfect Atalanta.
But what is astonishing and something few players can do – a career revival!
In 2010, Xhaka was valued by Transfermarkt at only 50 thousand euros as a 17-year-old, beginning his gradual rise.
When he moved to Monchengladbach, the midfielder, then 20, had reached a value of eight million euros three years later.
His value, according to Transfermarkt, continued to rise and reached 35 million euros when he joined Arsenal in 2016.
The peak of his value came in 2018 at the Gunners when the then 26-year-old reached 50 million euros.
Naturally, on and off-field clashes with fans began to reduce Xhaka’s market value, but not the quality he had, has, and will have for several more years.
When the Gunners’ fans started to feel Xhaka’s importance, his value, which had dropped to 20 million euros, rose by eight million.
But with his return to the top of his game, Granit decided to change his environment, return to the Bundesliga, and make history, securing not only Leverkusen’s first title but also an undefeated season.
Successes now speak for him, and Arsenal fans often mention on social media that they were wrong in their assessments of Xhaka, as Mikel Arteta began to bring out the best in him, which Xabi Alonso did last season.
