Bayer Leverkusen is reaching for three titles at the end of the season. While there are many reasons for the success, new signing Granit Xhaka has become an indispensable centerpiece of the team within just a few months.
If you are looking for the faces of success at Bayer Leverkusen this season, you can hardly limit your selection to one or two players to do justice to the team’s performance. However, if the question relates to the heart of the team, there is pretty much agreement under the Bayer Kreuz: midfielder Granit Xhaka.
The now 31-year-old moved from Arsenal to Leverkusen last summer for 15 million euros. A proud sum for a man with very international experience in a key position, who has been repeatedly criticized by his former club for years and is now in his advanced footballing age.
Granit Xhaka makes a huge impact at Bayer
From minute one in the new jersey, the veteran already revealed his unconditional focus in his new place of work: “Bayer 04 signed me to stabilize this young team,” said the Swiss international in his first interview with the club media after his arrival in July 2023. “I will try to do that on all levels, including mentally. I don’t want to play the father or the boss. But everyone has to be clear that you have to work hard to be successful.”
A good six months after these big opening words, the results for the “Werkself” could hardly be better. With 70 points after 26 match days, coach Xabi Alonso’s team is comfortably at the top of the Bundesliga table, ten points ahead of second-placed FC Bayern Munich. Bayer is also in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup and the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Leverkusen is still playing for several titles in 2024 and is even aiming for the treble. A development that very few people would have expected of the team before the season. For Xhaka, the team’s impressive performances and consistency can hardly be taken for granted, but they are the result of the consistent work week after week that he himself predicted months ago.
Long-time favorite and Mr. Reliable at Bayer Leverkusen
Xhaka’s sporting value for the team is exemplified by his statistics in the Bundesliga. The midfield engine has been in the starting line-up in all 26 games so far. The long-running favorite only left the pitch early five times – in the 78th minute at the earliest. The statistics portal “FBref” counts 2,984 touches during this period. Broken down to one game, that’s a massive 114.8 touches per game.
Worth mentioning at this point: The statistics count the number of times a player touches the ball. Receiving a pass, dribbling and then executing a pass only count as one touch for this measurement. Accordingly, Xhaka’s presence on the pitch is much greater than is reflected in the raw numbers.
Above all, this value impressively shows how much his role in Leverkusen has changed compared to his time at Arsenal London. In the 2022/23 season, the veteran made a comparatively moderate total of 1,891 touches (51.1 per game) in 37 games in the Premier League for Arsenal.
With eight games left in the Bundesliga, the Swiss could almost double the value of the previous season based on current figures. A huge development that demonstrates his technical skills and game intelligence to numerous top teams who didn’t or didn’t bother enough to hire him in the summer.
Xhaka is perhaps in the form of his life and has quickly become the brains on the pitch and the command center in the Bayer game.
Updated on March 17, 2024, 5:50 p.m
The first championship in the club’s history is getting closer and closer: The confident league leaders Bayer Leverkusen have shown no weakness and are continuing to keep record champions Bayern Munich at bay in the Bundesliga. Star coach Xabi Alonso’s team remains undefeated and can slowly start planning for their championship celebration.
Granit Xhaka passes on his mentality to his young teammates
However, reducing the former Borussia Mönchengladbach player solely to his sporting value would not do him justice. With his mentality and leadership qualities, Xhaka is a real leader who sets the pace in the Leverkusen team and uses his experience to support the “young wild ones” with advice and action.
After the victory in the derby at 1. FC Köln on matchday 24, he was interviewed after the game “ESPN” asked how it would feel to be ten points ahead at the top of the Bundesliga table. “It’s good and we can be proud of it, but we haven’t won anything yet,” Xhaka’s answer could hardly have been more meaningful.
After all, appearances could be deceiving; the team could lull themselves into a false sense of security and believe that they have reached their goal too early. “I’m talking about my own experience from last season. We had a similar point lead over the second-placed team, but we didn’t win the league in the end. I share this experience again and again in the dressing room,” said Xhaka, admonishing his painful one Experience with Arsenal in the previous season, when the “Gunners” had to give up the almost certain Premier League title to Manchester City on the home straight.
And the awakening words also reach his teammates: “They know it because they ask me every day: ‘You’ve been in this situation before, what was it like and what happened?’ I try to explain it to them, but you can’t explain it with words, you have to feel it,” Xhaka gave an insight into the inner workings of the cabin: “That’s why we should remain humble and continue to work day by day, as we do “We’ll do it all season and then we’ll see where we end up after 34 match days.”
Granit Xhaka leads the team to success
Leverkusen is on the verge of finally getting rid of the hated nickname “Vizekusen”, that of the eternal runner-up. One or more trophies are within reach, Xabi Alonso’s team feels they can only beat themselves.
Thanks to the active help and guidance of Leitwolf Xhaka, who raises his teammates to an unprecedented level. “Granit Xhaka takes on a very important role, he sets the pace for the team,” emphasized former Leverkusen striker Erik Meijer in an interview “ran.de” and praised the club’s decision-makers for their transfer strategy last summer, which added the missing pieces of the puzzle to the team compared to previous years.
“Simon Rolfes (the managing director of sports, editor’s note) managed to bring in a few very experienced players in addition to all the young talents they already had, who set the pace a bit. Then the successes came, which means that you then gain self-confidence and they still radiate that in the 90th minute. Because they are convinced that they can still score a goal or turn a draw into a win. That’s because “They believe in the coach’s philosophy,” Meijer continued to explain the reasons for the team’s success and new self-image.
Since this season, Leverkusen has shown a mindset that is second to none. And that leader Xhaka embodies with every fiber and at every moment like no other.
Sources used
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2024-03-28 12:30:58
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