In his youth he was compared to Messi, but Shaqiri has not fulfilled his potential. What happened?

The name Xherdan Xhaqiri is familiar to all European football fans, but he was predicted to be much more famous. TheSwiss international had tremendous potential, but unfortunately he was never able to fulfil it.

The year was 2011 when football fans in the Czech Republic were able to notice the name Xherdan Shaqiri for the first time. That summer, the Swiss 11s played our team in the semi-finals of the Little Euros and won 1:0.

It was the technically and quickly well-equipped left-handed Shaqiri, who was a constant threat, who shone with a great performance. After all, he was one of the driving forces behind the Swiss team’s quest for silver in the championship. It was obvious what a great talent he is. He has been compared a lot to Lionel Messi, which would be appropriate given his similar height and dribbling ability.

By the time of the Little Euros, however, Shaqiri was already a key player in his second season with Swiss side Basel, where they had honed their young gem very exclusively and meticulously. After all, Swiss football doesn’t grow such talent in every generation. It was only a matter of time before he went one step further.

Biggest mistake of his career?

Xherdan Shaqiri took a step further in the summer of 2012. Quite possibly the fatal mistake that ruined a skilful player’s career. For less than 12 million euros, he was bought by Bayern Munich, where legends were operating on the wings at the time, namely Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben, two of the best players on the planet.

In two and a half seasons in Bavaria, Xherdan played 81 games and scored 17 goals and 19 assists. Paradoxically, he saw the most playing time in his first year. However, even there he played more of a joker role and was used more as a rotation player. Moreover, he got injured several times, which didn’t help him either.

It is worth mentioning that Shaqiri was still a star in Switzerland. He led the national team to the 2014 World Cup, where he excelled. In a nutshell, it can be said that the national team is probably the only place where he really proved his qualities steadily, without major performance fluctuations. He has shone in all championships in a Swiss jersey.

But now back to his club career. In January 2015, he left for Inter Milan for six months. But even there he failed to convince of his qualities and then headed to England. In Italy, there has been a lot of talk about Shaqiri’s case. He was greeted with fanfare, but he didn’t live up to expectations.

In retrospect, the Swiss said he didn’t even want to leave for Inter. He said he was offered Liverpool in 2014, which was his wish. However, Bayern should have blocked the transfer. Shaqiri was not afraid to be critical. He wasn’t too angry at the Bavarian club, but it was different with Inter.

“To be honest, Inter’s infrastructure is disgraceful. The fact that such a renowned club cannot find a way to invest in infrastructure is disappointing. In England it is more professional in terms of diet, recovery, performance analysis and varied training sessions,” he explained why he would have preferred Liverpool at the time.

The transfer to England did take place, and the dream Liverpool

After an unsuccessful stint in Italy, Shaqiri left for Stoke City in the summer of 2015, which at the time had a fairly interesting squad but never played a major role in the Premier League. The skilful Swiss, however, produced some brilliant moments. His first two seasons were rather mediocre, but in the third one he shone to the full, scoring 8 goals and 7 assists.

He also had a great season at the World Championship in Brazil. Against the home team Brazil, he helped to draw the match with an assist and scored a goal. However, he did not win the qualification with Switzerland. However, he did win a transfer to his former dream club Liverpool.

The Reds paid just under 15 million euros for him. But that dream quickly turned sour. Jürgen Klopp was well aware of Shaqiri’s qualities, but only used him as a joker or a rotation player. In his first season, he again played the most, but after that he began to fade into obscurity.

After three wasted seasons, the big national tournament came again, this time the Euro, postponed by a year, which took place in the summer of 2021. Shaqiri shone again and proved that he had not forgotten to play football despite the low playing load. That is also why he was bought by French side Olympique Lyon before the start of the season.

But even in Lyon, everything is not as ideal as one might have expected. Shaqiri initially had confidence, but gradually began to fall out of the line-up. After 13 games he has 1 goal and 2 assists, which is simply less than expected.

Xhaqiri is now 30 years old, he should be at an ideal footballing age, in peak form. But he only seems to be in top form when he represents Switzerland at big events, as mentioned above. Yet there can be no doubt about his footballing ability.

Will he be able to pick himself up before his career comes to an end?

Sources: Transfermarkt, Spox, Sky Sports