Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka to be offered the chance to join Kosovo national team in coming days

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James Benge22 August 2016

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka is expected to be offered the chance to play for the Kosovo national team in the coming days.

The Swiss international was born in Basel, Switzerland after his parents had migrated from what was then Yugoslavia shortly before their son’s birth in September 1992.

It is understood that the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) have yet to formally contact Xhaka with their offer but hope to have confirmation of the midfielder’s intentions by the end of the month.

In a statement to Standard Sport a representative for the FFK confirmed: “Kosovo has called up publicly and privately every Kosovan player who currently plays for any other national team.

“Everyone is welcomed to join us on our new and very important challenges.”

Xhaka has maintained close ties with his ancestral homeland and visited Pristina as part of his post Euro 2016 break/vacation, where he visited the Arsenal Kosovo Supporters Club.

And in an open letter to Xhaka the local Gunners fans urged the midfielder to declare himself available for Kosovo: “As much as we appreciate what countries like Switzerland have done to raise our children, we want them back as we need them.

“Kosovo needs the likes of Granit Xhaka.

“Granit, it is high time for you to become an idol Kosovo-wide, a living hero.

“Playing for Kosovo’s national team you might not benefit materially as much as you would playing for Switzerland, but you would win something much more valuable and significant; our hearts.”

In 2012 Xhaka told the New York Times that he would “see what will happen” should Kosovo ever be handed member status by Fifa and it appears he may soon be forced to make a decision.

Kosovo play their first competitive international against Finland in Turku on September 5, beginning their bid to qualify for the 2018 World Cup just four months after they were formally recognised as the 211th member of Fifa.

Arsenal 2016/17 Photoshoot

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And they hope that the likes of Xhaka – and his brother Taulant, currently an Albanian international – Sunderland midfielder Adnan Januzaj and Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri will be part of their squad sooner rather than later.

Shaqiri, who was born in the Kosovan city of Gjilan in 1991,has already intimated that he would consider switching international allegiance after he was snubbed for a senior role in the Swiss squad. He said in June: “What if the coach of Kosovo wants me as the captain? Of course, I am thinking about it then.”

Fifa are unlikely to block any player who wishes to represent Kosovo having already played for another national team.

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