Being booed off by our own fans was one of the best things that’s happened to me
REDEMPTION WITH GUNNERS IS PART OF INCREDIBLE FAMILY HISTORY FOR XHAKA
THIS is the story about Granit Xhaka, the man who was booed off the pitch by his own fans, stripped of the captaincy and had his bags packed to leave. It is about how he is now the darling of Arsenal fans, a heartwarming redemption song.
But it is also about Ragip and Elmaze Xhaka, his parents. It is a story that involves suffering, imprisonment, a love that endures beyond prison cells and determination to start anew, despite the refusal of some of your compatriots to accept your identity.
When Xhaka’s story at Arsenal is placed within the context of his family’s wider experience, it’s perhaps no surprise that he is here, in October 2022, with Arsenal top of the league, him a key driver of their midfield and so beloved by fans that the new song in praise of him regularly resounds around the Emirates.
Yet he is understandably a touch incredulous that we are at this point, almost three years to that day when he was substituted against Crystal Palace and Arsenal fans cheered the change, before jeering him off the pitch. Watching that video again is to realise football has a hint of the Roman Colosseum about it, the public humiliation excruciating, as Xhaka first waves his arms, goading fans and then tells them to ‘F*** off!’.
Xhaka is recalling it now, remembering the journey back to his north London home, where he lives with wife, Leonita, and now his two daughters (back then there was just one, only three weeks old at the time, and it should have been the best of times).
‘Normally in our family we are loud, we like to communicate, we like to joke,’ he says. ‘This was the first time where I have maybe one hour from stadium to home and no words from nobody.’
The first to break the silence was Ragip. ‘My dad has never, ever been a guy to leave something that we didn’t finish,’ said Xhaka. ‘And this is the first time he said to me: “It’s time to leave”. For me that was a big surprise. And it was clear after that, that I have to leave.’
To appreciate the impact of his father’s intervention, you should know this isn’t a man to be cowed by a crowd or give up a cause. Ragip spent three and a half years in jail in former Yugoslavia for protesting for the rights of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the late Eighties. He once spoke about the police arresting him at his parents’ home at 5am, about the beatings, about being in a cell, two by four metres, with four other prisoners for all but 10 minutes a day.
‘What he went through is not normal,’ said Xhaka. ‘I started to ask him very early about it and he give always little bit of pieces. Never the big story. Of course, when I was older, he gave me more and more but I believe that he still has a lot of stuff to say. You can feel it as when you speak to him...’
It isn’t just a story about his father’s resilience, however. ‘My parents met each other one week before he went to prison. My mum was waiting for my dad for three and a half years and she was ready to leave her own family because of him.’
It was 1990 when Ragip was released and the couple decided to leave for Switzerland. His brother Taulant, who plays for Basel and Albania, was born in 1991, with Granit arriving in 1992. ‘We lived in a normal flat, we had a good childhood. We enjoyed the time, a lot of time on the football pitch, a street football pitch, until the evening, until my parents come to take us! It was a cage-type pitch, where I still go today and visit with my brother.’ Switzerland accepted many refugees during the Yugoslav civil war and it is quite clear the pride Xhaka feels in his country of birth. His parents found jobs and he feels it is a country that gave his family a second chance. He is now national team captain heading into the Qatar World Cup. His parents’ story is a classic of migration being a massive boost to a nation. And yet, at times, you can still feel the cold chill of rejection from a minority.
Given his father’s background, Xhaka could hardly forget his
Kosovan roots, where the majority are ethnically Albanian. Hence his spot of bother with FIFA for making an Eagle symbol, associated with Albanian nationalists, when scoring in the 2-1 win over Serbia for Switzerland. His commitment to his birth country shouldn’t be in doubt, given that he has 106 caps, yet when he was discussed as a potential captain, former Liverpool player and Swiss international Stephane
Henchoz said that he shouldn’t be in the mix because he didn’t ‘represent Switzerland and the team’.
Xhaka bridles at the suggestion. ‘I know why it is. First of all, because I never hide where I’m from, where my parents are from. Some people don’t accept or understand it.
‘This guy, like the others speaking in front of TV, they have their opinion of me, it’s fine. I’m very proud to play for Switzerland — if not I wouldn’t get 100 or more caps for them.
‘What the people speak in front of TV doesn’t matter. Most important for me is the people, the country, the staff and the team — and I feel more than welcome in this country.’
It is a riposte to put Henchoz in his place but a reminder that, for some, there is apparently always an extra hurdle to be cleared to demonstrate your loyalty, another barrier Xhaka has overcome. He is currently studying for his UEFA B licence and emphasises the positivity of the experience. Yet there is one topic the trainees always want to raise with Xhaka. It’s not hard to guess which it is.
That cacophony of jeers will never be wholly forgotten. ‘Even when I do my coaching, the young players are asking about it because
When I lost, I wasn’t able to speak. But it is a different picture now
everyone saw it. All the youth saw the moment.’
A lot has happened since October 2019, an era when no one had heard of Covid and Unai Emery was Arsenal coach. In those days, a frustrated Xhaka would take the lack of progress Arsenal were showing on the pitch and bring it back home with him to his wife and new-born daughter.
‘I think the most important (thing) that I learned these last three years was that you have to split your profession and your family,’ he explains. ‘Before now, everything that happened on the pitch, I took home as well. Not in an aggressive way but emotions. When I lost, I wasn’t ready to speak. But this change, three years ago, it is a different picture. Granit at home and different Granit on the pitch.’
Did this epiphany come from a growing maturity brought on by the arrival of his daughters or was it a reflection on the breakdown of his relationship with fans? ‘Everything,’ he says. ‘A little bit (of the) puzzle was what happened three years ago, as well the kids, as well the people I have now around. It’s not like you change one thing and everything is going well. You need (all the pieces of) the puzzle.’
One of those people around him, outside of his family, is undoubtedly Mikel Arteta. Xhaka was literally packed and ready to leave in January 2020. Arteta had just replaced Emery, inheriting the debris of the relationship breakdown. It looked irretrievable but Arteta called Xhaka, met him and convinced him he was crucial to his plans. Xhaka told Arteta he would stay and fight.
As recently as last April, Xhaka revealed that there remained a fissure in the bond with fans. ‘I can’t pretend that my relationship with the fans will ever be the same, because that moment will always be in my heart,’ he said.
He is reminded of that quote and his mind goes back to a month ago and his commanding performance in the 3-0 win at Brentford. As the players saluted the fans at the end, a new song was being chanted and filled the away end. To the tune of Glad All Over, the Arsenal fans were singing: ‘We’ve got — Granit Xhaka!’ The player looked a little taken aback and understandably emotional. It felt like something had healed.
‘They started singing and I was so grateful,’ he says. ‘I got emotional a lot, because I didn’t expect that for me. It means a lot. I need to feel the love from the people, the fans. And this is what I feel at the moment and this is why I’m performing like this. It’s much easier to give then something back and fight for them if you feel that.
‘What happened three years ago is part of my football career and it helped me a lot. People see it as very negative, but I see it very positive.’
Xhaka isn’t foolish enough to have false confidence about Arsenal being top of the table after nine games ahead of today’s visit of Leeds. But nor is he about to go with the consensus that Manchester City are unstoppable and Arsenal merely the best of the rest.
‘I believe it can be a special year,’ he says. ‘If we keep going like we are working at the moment, I think we can get something big.’
What you can be sure of is that Xhaka is ready to fight. And that he won’t know when he’s beaten.