Borussia Monchengladbach's Granit Xhaka Avoided Going Down in Flames
Swiss central midfielder Granit Xhaka, 22, is on the fast track to becoming one of the best footballers in the world.
Still, Xhaka initially struggling at Borussia Monchengladbach is a narrative quickly forgotten with each elite midfield performance.
Talk Less, Do More
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Signed from Basel for €8.5/£6.9 million, Xhaka went from starring at the Swiss Super League equivalent of Bayern Munich to Borussia Monchengladbach, a work in progress.
Elevating from relegation survivors to the fourth-best team in the Bundesliga, Borussia Monchengladbach relinquished three key players in the transfer window that they signed Xhaka.
Marco Reus | Borussia Monchengladbach → Borussia Dortmund: €17.1/£13.8 million (23 years old; 2012).
Roman Neustadter | Borussia Monchengladbach → Schalke: Free transfer (24 years old; 2012).
Kicker, a German sports magazine, listed Reus as the No. 1 Bundesliga footballer out of 211 players during the 2011/12 season.
Dante helped Borussia Monchengladbach to the second-best defence in the Bundesliga (conceded 24 goals from 34 games).
A big presence in Borussia Monchengladbach's midfield, Neustadter was second at the club for total tackles (99) and first for interceptions (112).
Xhaka attempted to enforce his authority on a Borussia Monchengladbach dressing room low on morale, fearful of being dragged into a second relegation battle in three seasons.
"I heard my new team-mates saying 'we have got to hope that we don't go down'," Xhaka said, per Tages-Anzeiger (h/t ESPN FC). "I thought to myself: what kind of a mentality is that? [I come] from Basel, where everything was about winning."
Unproven at Bundesliga level, Xhaka intended to inspire, but was detrimental to team chemistry.
Entangled in righteous indignation, Xhaka traded verbal barbs with then-team-mate Marc-Andre ter Stegen, a once-in-a-generation goalkeeper, whose words carried more weight than the Swiss newcomer.
"Not even my parents treat me like that. [Ter Stegen is] my age and I don't let anything like that happen [to me]," Xhaka said, per Tages-Anzeiger (h/t beIN Sports). "I thought, 'what the hell is going on here?'"
Borussia Monchengladbach director of sport Max Eberl mumbled his way through justifying how Xhaka, the club's second most expensive player ever, treated his team-mates.
"[Xhaka is] ambitious and maybe mad that things aren't going the way he had planned," Eberl said, per Bild (h/t Ian Hudson at Goal). "That's no problem for me cause we like players that are ambitious."
What made Xhaka so unbearable was his do as I say, not as I do disposition.
Xhaka was "failing to do an ample job," per Stefan Bienkowski at the New York Times.
Placed No. 180 out of 210 footballers in Kicker's Bundesliga player rankings, Xhaka was on course to be a transfer bust.
He started and finished on the bench 29.4 per cent of the time because he was a liability on the field in the eyes of Borussia Monchengladbach manager Lucien Favre.
Downgraded to being a backup to Havard Nordtveit and Thorben Marx, Lazio offered Xhaka an exit strategy from Borussia Monchengladbach.
The same bullheadedness which provoked Ter Stegen into berating Xhaka meant Lazio failed to convince him to leave.
To accept Lazio's offer would mean Xhaka quitting on Borussia Monchengladbach.
It would serve as the ultimate indictment on how hypocritical Xhaka was after he chided several Borussia Monchengladbach players for being mentally weak at the start of the season.
Ego, pride and the dread of losing face willed Xhaka to rebuff Lazio's approach.
"Yes, I am honoured, but even [Lazio], a club of that stature, is off limits. I am staying here," Xhaka said, per the Express (h/t Patrick Gleeson at Goal). "I have to face this situation and assert myself. I have to be hard on myself and show [Favre] that I belong on the pitch and not in the background."
Spending more time in self-reflection rather than pointing fingers at team-mates, Xhaka re-assessed how he could rectify his floundering start.
Xhaka was candid about his own insecurities regarding the money Borussia Monchengladbach invested in him and how his full pelt approach inhibited his ability to perform.
"I wanted to prove to everyone that it wasn't a mistake to bring me in. But when you want too much, you don't usually achieve much," Xhaka said, per the Bundesliga's website. "I know I've made mistakes and sometimes I've talked about things too openly or directly. That wasn't good and I've learned from that."
Nordtveit and Marx cooperated adeptly because both are blue-collared, ordinary, team-first and safe central midfielders.
They are role players with simple playing styles, whose inability to dominate midfield shifted the onus on Xhaka.
Frustrated with the mentality of his team-mates, his own declining form, the backlash to his brash opinions and being dropped contributed to Xhaka being marked so harshly by Kicker during the 2012/13 season.
In contrast, what made Xhaka and Christoph Kramer a pristine match was the untapped world-class potential both possessed when they first trained together.
Kramer, on the books of Bayer Leverkusen, played out two seasons in the 2. Bundesliga for Bochum, so Borussia Monchengladbach was his best chance of realising his top-flight dreams.
Xhaka had an ego-crushing campaign where he was humbled, out of form, and perhaps for the first time in his career, felt like a loser.
A 6'3" and 181-pound central midfielder, Kramer is a complete footballer: physically blessed, prolific ball-winner, can take on opposing players and functions as a passing outlet.
Kramer lessens the burden on Xhaka and enables him to dictate the tempo of the game.
As a pair, they have proven to be the real deal.
Kramer is tied for third-place for most tackles per Bundesliga game (3.4).
There are only three Bundesliga players who average more passes per game than Xhaka (78.3): Xabi Alonso (105.4), David Alaba (87.6) and Jerome Boateng (78.3).
Xhaka has hit 100-plus passes twice, per Squawka.
What further enhances the Xhaka-Kramer partnership is they have similar personalities.
"There are certainly people who will criticise me and say I'm big-headed, but for me I'm still exactly the same guy I was a year ago," Kramer said, per the Bundesliga's website. "It's just people's opinions."
"I compliment Kramer perfectly. We both put in a lot of legwork, win many balls, and we're comfortable with the ball at our feet," Xhaka said, per Felix Seaman-Hoschele at the Bundesliga's website. "We also talk a lot both off and on the pitch."
Kramer's impending return to Bayer Leverkusen is the next significant challenge Xhaka will have to overcome at Borussia Monchengladbach.
FC Hollywood? No, thank you
Sputtering to four defeats in a row, Bayern Munich are pursuing Xhaka, per the Telegrafi (h/t Stephan Uersfeld at ESPN FC).
The once-swashbuckling demeanour which alienated Xhaka from the general footballing public will now win him new admirers after he emphatically dissociated himself from Bayern Munich, the Bradley Cooper of football clubs.
"I have never had any contact with Bayern Munich, let alone have agreed personal terms," Xhaka said, per Andreas Kotter at Ran (h/t Stephan Uersfeld at ESPN FC). "That's blatant nonsense, because I am very, very happy here [at Borussia Monchengladbach]."
This was evidenced with Xhaka extending his contract until 2019 with an additional one-year option.
"Granit has developed hugely in his two-and-a-half years with us and has become one of the most important players on the team," Eberl said, per Borussia Monchengladbach's website. "We're excited that we have been able to keep him."
Grinning at the camera, Eberl's sense of achievement is a turnaround from the anxieties he may have had over Xhaka flaming out in spectacular fashion.
Now Eberl is probably fretting over how he keeps Xhaka from being entrapped by the allure of Bayern Munich in the coming seasons.
When not specified, statistics via WhoScored.com.
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