This is how Granit Xhaka tapped as a boy: This little boy will be a national record player today

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Liestal station, on October 9, 2009, shortly after 4 p.m.: Granit Xhaka, just turned 17, waits for the train to Muttenz BL. Black leather jacket, white sweatshirt, blue jeans, glitter on the ear.

The meeting with SonntagsBlick prior to the U17 World Cup is his first press event. You don’t feel anything. The young Basel resident seems confident and says things like: “I want to become world champion!” And: “I’m packing clothes until the finals.” Although he laughs again and again, he is not joking. He is still an apprentice at the Liestal sports director and plays for the FC Basel U21 team.

It was already clear then: there was a self-confident teenager who dreams and thinks much bigger than his peers and who wears his heart on his sleeve. In the 30-minute conversation, Xhaka made more headlines than any other footballer in his entire career.

Such lively tones are unusual – and trainers usually don’t like hearing them. The then U17 national coach Dany Ryser had no problem with it. “I actually liked it,” says the now 66-year-old. «The ’92 was an exceptional vintage. Not only Granit had this mentality, but the entire team. And in the end, Granit was right. He needed the clothes until the final.” The young wild animals around Xhaka, Seferovic and Rodriguez sensationally became world champions in Nigeria.

Ryser already coached Xhaka at U15 level. No one anticipated that his protégé would one day become a record-breaking national player, although he did attract attention, he says. “Granit was a late developer, not as physically advanced as others. But his talent was undeniable and he had incredible will and enormous ambition. You could see in every training that there was someone who wanted to get better every day.”

Contact between the two has been broken for some time. They last saw each other on the tenth anniversary of the World Cup title in November 2019. “We live in different worlds,” said Ryser. He is now retired and works on a mandate basis for FIFA and UEFA. Xhaka is a leader at Bundesliga leader Leverkusen and a record player for the Swiss national team. “I congratulate Granit on this achievement and it makes me a little proud.”

Taulant Xhaka is also proud of his brother, who is a year and a half younger. The Nati leader, who consistently goes his own way and appears to resist outside advice, is keen to emphasize that he would listen to Taulant.

Is that right? Blick asked Taulant Xhaka (32).

Does your brother really listen to you?
Taulant Xhaka: Yes. He listened to me then and still does. For example, if I stayed out a little longer in the evening, I would send him home.

That is amazing. Granit seems like an alpha male who tells you how to do it.
That’s how he was when he was little. As a twelve-year-old, he really wanted to take responsibility. Although he was the youngest at home, he often played the boss. And he was very ambitious: he also wanted to win every game on the PlayStation. We quickly noticed that he has a special character. Now he has a wife and two children and has calmed down. Granit is an absolute leader – wherever he plays.

Was he always a leader?
Yes. But what people don’t know is that Granit has worked extremely hard on himself. When it comes to football, he’s crazy in the head. He looks at everything. Diet, drinks, rest and bedtimes. He also hired a personal trainer. Granit does everything for success – and it is no coincidence that he was a regular player in the Premier League for so long and is now in first place with Leverkusen.

What’s special about granite?
He has incredible self-confidence. What was it like at Arsenal when 60,000 fans booed him? How can you still play football like that? Most footballers would have been ruined by that. Not granite. He thought, “Now I can show everyone what I can do.” This earned him respect. He always believes in himself and will not let himself be broken. That impressed me. On the field he likes to be in the spotlight and enjoys duels. Off the field he is always calm and friendly.

The Xhaka brothers played together at Concordia Basel before moving to FCB. Her first trainer Andy Eichenberger once remembered the summer of 1998 in SonntagsBlick and his first meeting with five-year-old Granit and six-year-old Taulant. “Two sensational guys. Down to earth, modest, very well educated, a bit shy at first.”

He let Granit play in the storm; he was fearless and ambitious, Eichenberger says. “And he took care of his teammates, including his brother. He grabbed Taulant’s bag before practice and made sure they both arrived on time.”

In 2003, Xhaka moved to FCB, where he made waves with the U13s at the 2004 Nations Cup in Paris and was mentioned for the first time in a newspaper article. The 12-year-old was the top scorer of his team, which only lost in the final to Sevilla FC (1:3) at the Parc des Princes in front of 20,000 fans.

Xhaka also immediately took on responsibility at FC Basel, says Peter Knäbel, who was technical director at SFV between 2009 and 2014 and before that youth director at FC Basel for many years. “Granit managed the team’s locker at the time. Raising money from colleagues was certainly not an easy task.”

Knäbel remembers that he was a cheerful boy off the field and someone who had an overview on the field. “Granit didn’t ruin everything from the start. But he always kept his head up – and that’s where you see more.”

The fearless late developer with great ambition, who as a child loved to outdo the boss in the house, becomes the only Swiss record player in the country. 119 international matches, even former Nati superstar Stéphane Chapuisat (54) takes his hat off. ‘You have to do that first! And he has the ambition to do much more. That is good for Switzerland, because we need a fit and healthy Granit Xhaka.”

And what does the record mean for Xhaka himself? Brother Taulant says, “I think this is important to him and means a lot to him, even if he wouldn’t say it like that. He showed it to all the doubters and critics. That makes him proud.”

(Collaboration: Sebastian Wendel)

Source : Blick