“Thanks, Granit”

Sunderland's Granit Xhaka during the Premier League match at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton. Picture date: Saturday May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images It’s perhaps a mark of the sheer impact made by Granit Xhaka during his time at Sunderland that despite arguably not being at his absolute game-changing best in recent weeks, he still exudes enough in the way of sheer aura to leave nobody in any doubt of his influence, his standing and perhaps most importantly, his ability to carry a responsibility that can be crushingly heavy.

When he swapped the glitz, glamour and glory of the Bundesliga and Bayer Leverkusen for the Stadium of Light last summer, the sound of the thwacking of jaws hitting the ground right across the Sunderland fanbase could be heard throughout the footballing landscape. Despite demands to the contrary from then-manager Erik ten Hag, we eventually signed a Leverkusen league winner, a top twenty Ballon D’Or entrant and a former Arsenal captain — and as a newly-promoted side, no less. Just how was this possible?

Genuine world class talents don’t pass this way very often, yet here was one arriving to turbocharge our quest for survival (and possibly even more) following promotion. As Sunderland reflect on a job well done and possibly begin to cast their eyes towards the summer and what needs to be done to continue our upward trajectory after securing our Premier League status with a point at Molineux, it’s become obvious that the addition of the Swiss international midfielder was far more than merely a definitive signing of this era: it’s one of the most important we’ve ever made. Breaking the cycle was very much the target following promotion.

That needed to be reflected in our transfer business and it was no mean feat — Sunderland often fail to make these kinds of signings following elevation to the top flight. We did it with Steve Bould and Stefan Schwarz back in 1999, but we didn’t repeat the trick in 2005 and nor did we do so in 2007 (Russell Anderson? Michael Chopra?