Granit Xhaka: I played under Arsene in PlayStation

An interview was published today on Swiss website Blick with Arsenal's newest signing, Granit Xhaka. Oh wait I should have said Arsenal signed Granit Xhaka because you probably didn't know that by now what with the relative paucity of stories about that, right, I'm sorry.

Anyway.

There's a lot of good stuff in this short-ish interview, like Xhaka's thoughts about joining Arsenal (all quotes pre-mangled by Google Translate):

It's a dream come true. Since I saw as a boy the first game of the English league, England was my dream

His thought process behind wanting to move forward from Gladbach:

I look forward to the challenge at Arsenal. That's the change that I always wanted. I felt I needed a new challenge. In character, I am now much stronger than it was in Basel. (snip) Internally it has hurt me to leave the club, but that's football. We were always honest with each other.

He also talks a bit about what the staggeringly large transfer fee means to him:

this sum is not the most important thing in my life. It shows that I've worked hard the last four years. I was at Gladbach, a leader, and this is at the age of only 23 years not normal.

It's refreshing to see a young kid take that sort of attitude, particularly one who is nearing the peak of his profession, at least in his choice of employer. He also mentioned his abandoned move to Atletico Madrid last year:

Atletico had in the last three years twice a Champions League final. But a year ago for me was not the right time to switch.

And he also gives his thoughts on working for Arsene Wenger, which are awesome:

He's a legend for me. I used to play on the Playstation with him as manager. Today, he is allowed to train me.

"Today he is allowed to train me" is surely a Google Translate thing, but it's still pretty awesome. Anyway, there's a ton more good stuff in the article, about his family and international career, so you should go check it out.

But, just in case you don't, here are four out of context Google Translate sentences from the interview.

1. I have become enormously ripe at Gladbach.
2. I'm not just footballing good, I can also occur.
3. Arsenal has played in recent years, horny, attractive football.
4. No, but she is my wife, since the day when I met her for the first time.