Full Name: Granit Xhaka

Country: Switzerland

Club: Borussia MÓ§nchengladbach

Position: Central Midfielder

Representing Switzerland at a major tournament for the first time, 21-year-old Granit Xhaka looked like he would be entering this tournament on the back of a breakthrough season as one of the Bundesliga’s premier creative talents. However a slip in club form towards the end of the season resulted in a wake up call for the young Swiss midfielder, as coach Lucien Favre showed no mercy in dropping him from squads on occasion.

Nevertheless, Xhaka - an unknown quantity to a large proportion of fans this summer - is sure to be the player most essential to success for the young crop of Swiss players hoping to at least reach the knockout stage.

Profile

Under Ottmar Hitzfeld, Xhaka is employed in a slightly more advanced role than at club level, linking the resolute defence that kept Switzerland unbeaten in qualification and the exciting attacking threats of Valantin Stocker, Josip Drmic and Xherdan Shaqiri.

Gifted with a supreme passing ability and a tendency to play swift, long, diagonal balls (as shown in the Squawka diagram below), Xhaka’s playmaking style is perfectly suited to the quick, counterattacking prowess of the Swiss front three.

Key Stats

As is the case with a lot of young playmakers, Xhaka’s main point of criticism is his goal efficiency, with a very disappointingly low amount of goals and assists since making a move from Basel to the Bundesliga, as well as at international level.

In 23 domestic games last season, Xhaka managed a total of zero goals and just one solitary assist. His record with Switzerland is slightly better, possibly because of a larger role and weaker opposition. Xhaka does however have a tendency to shoot from distance, so when he does score, it is often as impressive as this strike against Slovenia:

This Summer

Xhaka, an unknown quantity to a large proportion of fans this summer, is sure to be the player most essential to success for the young crop of Swiss players hoping to at least reach the knockout stage. 

Xhaka holds an acute sense of how to drift into pockets of space in midfield that are guaranteed to be packed at the World Cup, with most sides looking to use three central midfielders. Him getting on the ball then will mostly depend on Gokhan Inler and Valon Behrami supplying him as they move from defence to attack.

So the question that remains is whether Xhaka can step up to the plate or not in Brazil. If it turns out that this is indeed one tournament to early for the 21-year old, Switzerland should suffer an early exit. However, if Xhaka can rise to the occasion then Switzerland’s potential is a force to be reckoned with.