Granit Xhaka Credits Mikel Arteta for Taking Him ‘To Another Level’ at Arsenal

Granit Xhaka has credited Mikel Arteta with taking him “to another level” at Arsenal and believes the Spaniard played a major part in helping him recover from the lowest point of his time in North London.

Xhaka’s relationship with Arsenal appeared close to breaking down in 2019 following his confrontation with supporters during a game against Crystal Palace.

The midfielder now looks back on that period as important to the player and person he became, but Arteta’s subsequent arrival also features prominently in his recollection of what came next.

Speaking on The Sports Agents podcast, Xhaka was asked about Arsenal winning the Premier League last season and immediately turned the conversation towards his former manager.

“First of all, I was very, very happy for one guy and this is Mikel because he’s the guy who bring me to another level where I am today,” Xhaka said.

“And without him, 2019, I had no chance to come out on myself. And then after, I’m more than happy for the players I played with because they deserve all the respect, all the work, because I know how much they struggled in the beginning and how much work was behind the scenes to get the trophy where they got it last season.”

It is not the first time Xhaka has spoken warmly about Arteta, but the now Sunderland captain also provided insight into how the Arsenal manager began changing the environment after taking charge.

Xhaka believes the quality of a dressing room has been central to the successful teams he has played in, drawing comparisons between Arteta’s Arsenal, Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen and what he subsequently found since his move to Sunderland.

For Arteta, that process extended well beyond the players.

Xhaka recalled the manager gathering around 60 or 70 people from across Arsenal’s training ground in one room early in his tenure.

“There was chairs everywhere,” he said.

“And he told us, like, you guys are looking at chaos from outside. So the first thing, we took a chair, we put it in the right place. ‘I want you guys to be like this, organised, to be lovely with each other, to know the names of the whole building who is working with you.’ And this shows me as well about the respect between each other, because you can make mistakes on this level."

The exercise may have both been unique and simple, but it left a mark with Xhaka, with the 33-year-old going as far as to recall what Arteta had told the group “I want you guys to be like this, organised, to be lovely with each other, to know the names of all the building who is working with you.”

For Xhaka, that was the starting point for the standards and expectations Arteta was setting for his players as he looked to establish a new environment and culture at the club. One that eventually led to Arsenal returning the Premier League trophy to North London..

The Switzerland captain spent several seasons playing under Arteta's management before leaving for Bayer Leverkusen, where he went on to win the Bundesliga under now Chelsea manager, Xabi Alonso. When discussing the similarities between the two managers, Xhaka repeatedly returned to the dressing rooms they created rather than formations or individual tactical ideas.

“The dressing room with Mikel was amazing, with Xabi was amazing,” he said.

“You had these young players, you have the experienced players, the energy was there, the commitment was there, the desire was there to work.”

Creating that culture required difficult decisions from Arteta during the early part of his Arsenal tenure, as he rebuilt the squad and mentality he had inherited from Unai Emery.

“First of all, you need a coach who has the power and who has the mindset, the mentality, the courage to put this place in the dressing room,” he said. “It’s not easy. It was not easy for Mikel.”

Xhaka eventually left the Gunners in 2023 having repaired a relationship with the club that looked irreparable just month before Arteta's arrival.

Now Xhaka prepares to face the Gunner again, captaining Sunderland in tonight's Premier League match. Although several years have passed since his exit from Arsenal the 33-year-old's assessment of Arteta’s influence has not changed. Looking back at the transformation that followed 2019, Xhaka sees the manager’s impact as extending well beyond what happened on the pitch.