Granit Xhaka

“I'm a hard-working young man who believes in myself.”

“The expectations are high, so we know: If we do not meet them, there is criticism. We have high expectations ourselves. We are not happy with fourth, third, or second, either.”

“In football, you just have to develop yourself.”

“I have learned one thing in my life: If I put too much pressure on myself, then everything goes wrong.”

“Individual quality doesn't decide games for us but the whole team.”

“You have to be completely there in every game, and as soon as you drop your level even one per cent, you concede goals.”

“Everyone fights for everyone else. If someone has a bad day, then the others are there for him. And if a player makes a mistake, then the others can compensate for that. Those sorts of things are crucial at this level, and it's really important that we perform as a unit.”

“When I think about a mid-table club like Everton spending £150 million during the summer, I am lost for words.”

“My game is about being aggressive, and I'm not the same player if you take that away from me.”

“I knew before I arrived that the pressure at a club that challenges for the title grows quickly. The season is long; we'll become stronger with every game.”

“My dad played football, too, in the former Yugoslavia.”

“When I was younger, even though I had a big brother, my parents would give me the house key every day.”

“I've picked up quite a few yellow cards in the last few years - a few reds, too. That was the case as a youth player as it is now. But I don't see it as a problem. That's how I play. If you take that away, then I wouldn't be where I am now. So I don't think the yellow cards or the red cards are too big of an issue.”

“I think every new player needs time when they come to a new club and a new country, and I certainly did.”

“Here at Basel is where I made my first professional steps. I came up and grew up through the FC Basel school.”

“You always need a certain amount of time to fully adjust; it was no different when I moved to the Bundesliga.”

“I heard my new team-mates saying, 'We have got to hope that we don't go down.' I thought to myself, 'What kind of a mentality is that?'”

“People who know me know that I don't talk about the play-offs. It's not an issue for me at all.”

“Arsenal is Arsenal. It's not a small club; it's a very big club, and it's like a family. It's very good for me because I love my family, and to have another family here is very good.”

“Arsenal were really interested in me for a long time, and I think that I fit into the football Arsenal play.”