Less than two months before his 33rd birthday Granit Xhaka signed for Sunderland.
Looking back less than a year later, in the fine margins that exist in the Premier League, I think fair to say that the Switzerland captain was the difference between sneaking into only a second ever in their history European qualification for the mackems instead of a very likely relegation fight.
From what I saw of Sunderland last season, they had a lot of running and commitment, but to bring that into a cohesive unit that could survive and to an extent thrive in the Premier League, it was only the class and quality of Grain Xhaka that allowed them to do that.
After seven years at the Emirates, Granit Xhaka left Arsenal as he approached the age of 31.
By the time he was approaching the age of 32 he had been a key player as Bayer Leverkusen won their first ever Bundesliga title in 2023/24, amazing everybody when they broke the Bayern Munich stranglehold.
The following (2024/25) season, by the time he approached the age of 33, Granit Xhaka had helped Bayer Leverkusen to finish runners-up and once again qualify for the Champions League. Especially impressive as they’d also had to deal with a Champions League campaign as well as the Bundesliga.
On 30 July 2025 Granit Xhaka moved to Sunderland. Less than a year later the Mackems had qualified for the Europa League in their first season after promotion, Bayer Leverkusen had dropped to a sixth place finish in the Bundesliga and could now face Sunderland in Europe.
A lot of other things impacted Bayer Leverkusen but I think reasonable to assume they would have had a better chance of staying in the upper reaches of the Bundesliga with the Swiss midfielder.
Ahead of turning 34 in September, Granit Xhaka has now just captained Switzerland to the last eight of the World Cup and they were desperately unlucky as even when down to ten men they were still better than Argentina. As that played out there was panic on the streets of Wearside as the media reported Chelsea wanted Granit Xhaka to reunite with his Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso.
A soon to turn 34-year-old, why on earth would Sunderland and their fans see it as beyond vital to keep Granit Xhaka…?
Which brings me to Bruno Guimaraes.
I am pretty sure that the media were in universal belief that it would be a disaster if Sunderland were to lose Granit Xhaka ahead of the new season. That his value to them was far beyond whatever transfer fee they might receive from Chelsea. That even though he will play almost all of this coming season as a 34-year-old, Xhaka is still by a country mile Sunderland’s best and key player, as well as their captain.
When Granit Xhaka turns 34 in September, he will be six years older than Bruno Guimaraes.
Yet we are patronised by so many Arsenal client journalists and so many fans of the Gunners, that Newcastle United and their fans should actually be grateful that a club is willing to pay ‘a lot of money’ despite their best and key player, and captain, being the age of 28.
Yes, Arsenal’s willing to pay £50m, £60m, or even as much as £70m! (We don’t of course know exactly what Arsenal would be willing to pay, if anything, as they are doing everything though their friends in the media.) Wow, how lucky Newcastle United and their fans are in reality. Of course, Arsenal still haven’t made any bid, haven’t even made any official club to club contact, as they play this embarrassing game of trying to unsettle Bruno Guimaraes and Newcastle United as much as possible by using their servants in the media. Journalists reporting ‘Arsenal will be willing to pay £xxm (not £xxxm…) and not a penny more mind, so be grateful for this bid, however much it is, if it is ever made…’
If Granit Xhaka is irreplaceable at Sunderland despite being 34 (very soon), what does that make 28-year-old Bruno Guimaraes at Newcastle United?
I reckon the mackems would all agree Granit Xhaka is priceless when it comes to his value to them at this precise time.
For Geordies, I think Bruno Guimaraes is beyond priceless at this precise time.
Luka Modric will turn 41 in September. He was still running the show for Croatia at this summer’s World Cup finals and is continuing with AC Milan this coming season.
It wouldn’t surprise me if both Granit Xhaka and Bruno Guimaraes will still be playing top tier football at the age of 38. They are both super fit, look after themselves, just like Modric neither of them rely on pace.
With Bruno Guimaraes, what value can you put on him if say he stayed the next five years at Newcastle United? What if it ended up as the next ten years?
James Milner has eventually called it time aged 40 but he is yet another example of a dedicated player in this age of far more knowledge when looking after top players, if they are dedicated then age is increasingly becoming just a number.
When you also factor in the endless quoting of the stats in February 2026 when Bruno Guimaraes picked up his first proper injury during his time on Tyneside, the facts being the results when Bruno is in the Newcastle United team compared to when he is missing.
With Kieran Trippier having left and Dan Burn set to be second choice behind Sven Botman, who even would be the potential captain if Bruno Guimaraes did leave now?
These last 11 months HAVE seen Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon all leave, BUT all three only left when the buying club (eventually!) paid the level of transfer fee that Newcastle United were willing to accept. These three deals combined to total around £300m.
We now come to Newcastle United’s best player of all, the key individual, the captain and leader.
Like most of you, I now accept it is possible that Bruno Guimaraes could leave this summer.
What I don’t believe for one minute is that Bruno Guimaraes will leave for any of the daft lowball figures the compliant Arsenal journalists are putting into the public domain.
Some of the more credible journalists/media have suggested that around £80m-£85m could be the kind of figure Newcastle United might be willing to accept.
My gut feeling is that the reality’s the other rumours, that the Newcastle United hierarchy won’t consider selling unless Arsenal (or whoever) pay £100m+.
I think Newcastle United want to stick to that figure, knowing that Arsenal won’t pay it, believing that then they can keep NUFC’s talisman.
This would of course then need them to also sell the idea to Bruno Guimaraes. The club need to tell him whatever it takes.
We all know that the SCR (Squad Cost Ratio) limits, especially those imposed by UEFA, make things even tougher now to break into the elite, to have the financial flex to pay the transfer fees and wages in order to compete. However, I think Bruno Guimaraes is a total one-off and I would love to see NUFC saying to Bruno here’s another £5m a year that takes him up to the same kind of ballpark figure he would be paid at Arsenal. Shedding top earners like Tonali, Trippier and Gordon and bringing in four young rising talents will have caused a saving on wages.
Tell Bruno Guimaraes that just like Luka Modric he could still be playing top flight football at the age of 41, he could be beyond a legend at Newcastle United by then and maybe his Geordie sons Matteo and Pietro possibly even lining up for NUFC alongside their dad.
To sum it up.
Imagine how different your emotions could be in the coming days, maybe weeks. Only one of these two announcements happened, Bruno Guimaraes signing for Arsenal OR Bruno signing a new extended and enhanced NUFC contract and the Brazil international pledging himself to Newcastle United?
I mentioned earlier about how Granit Xhaka was very likely the difference last season between the eventual European football qualification for Sunderland rather than a relegation fight.
Unlike some other Newcastle United fans I am not somebody who sees the position generally at the club now as automatically all gloom and doom.
However, if Bruno Guimaraes does stay, I will be looking up the Premier League table rather than down. That is how key he is to everything, in my opinion anyway.
When Bruno Guimaraes picked up that first serious NUFC injury against Spurs back in February, he ended up not starting the next seven Premier League matches. Out of a possible 21 points across those couple of months, Newcastle United picked up only six points and eventually finished 12th on 49 points. If NUFC had picked up five more points during Bruno’s absence then we would have qualified for the Europa League, another 11 points and it could have been Champions League. Maybe the latter a bit of a stretch but with Bruno Guimaraes in those crucial two months I think Newcastle could/would have ended up seventh or higher and qualified for the Europa League, his spell out injured also saw United exit both the FA Cup and Champions League.
With Bruno Guimaraes, I am hoping for the best and at the same time fearing the worst.
When was it ever any different as a Newcastle United fan.
This feels like yet another crucial moment in our club’s modern day history.