Full name: Granit Xhaka
Date of birth: 27 September 1992 (age 19)
Place of birth: Gjilan, Kosovo
Height: 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position: Midfielder
Granit Xhaka (born 27 September 1992 in Gnjilane, FR Yugoslavia) now a days Gjilan Kosovo, is a Swiss footballer of Albanian descent who plays as a midfielder for FC Basel in the Swiss Super League.
Early life
Xhaka is the younger brother of Taulant Xhaka, who is also a professional footballer. Their family moved to Switzerland while the children were very young.
Club career
The brothers started their youth football by FC Concordia Basel and both moved to FC Basel in 2002. Xhaka played for various FC Basel youth teams and since 2007 has been a member of the U-21 squad. Between 2008 and 2010 he played 37 games for the U-21 team, scoring eleven goals.
Since the beginning of the 2010–11 season, Xhaka played for the FC Basel first team. He made is first team debut in the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League in the away match against Debreceni VSC in the Szusza Ferenc Stadium. Towards the end of the game he scored the second goal in Basel’s 2–0 victory.[2] He scored his first Super League goal in the 5–1 home win against FC Thun on 15 May 2011. At the end of the 2010–11 Swiss Super League, Xhaka won the Super League Championship title with FC Basel.
Negotiations for 2012 move
As of 14 February, Manchester United, CSKA Moscow and Juventus are all keen on signing Xhaka.
International career
Switzerland youth squads
Xhaka has played for Swiss youth squad at the U-17 level. He participated in the Under-17 World Cup in 2009 in Nigeria. The Swiss team won the World Cup.
He played his first game for the Switzerland national under-19 football team on 25 May 2010, as a substitute, as the team beat Austria national under-19 football team 3–2 in the Schwaz, Austria. He scored his first goal for the U-19 on 7 September 2010 as the team won 3–0 against the Czech Republic.
Switzerland under-21
Xhaka played his first game for the Switzerland national under-21 football team on 3 September 2010, as a substitute, as the team beat Republic of Ireland under-21 national football team 1–0 in the Cornaredo Stadium, Lugano. This was the last game in the qualification Group 2 to the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. Xhaka was member of the Swiss U-21 squad that competed in the final tournament, hosted by Denmark, between 11 and 25 June 2011. The Swiss team reached the final without conceding a goal, but lost to Spain U-21 2-0.
Switzerland senior team
Xhaka made his international debut for Switzerland at Wembley Stadium against England, in a 2–2, draw on 4 June 2011.On 15 November of the same year, during his sixth international appearance, he scored his first international goal in the 1–0 away win against Luxembourg in Stade Josy Barthel.
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Basel's DS confirmed our interest, but didn't say if an offer is made or not.
http://www.tuttojuve.com/?action=read&idnotizia=82379
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