Xherdan Shaqiri now: From ‘no Liverpool champion’ to rivalling Lionel Messi’s huge wages

Xherdan Shaqiri has scored at Switzerland’s last five major tournaments (Image: PA)

Preview of Euro 2024: Switzerland: Shaqiri is expected to return and be a vital member of the team as they take on Group A. He has scored in each of his country’s last five international championships.

The time will come when the same old faces won’t represent Switzerland in a significant competition, but that time is not yet arrived.

Yann Sommer, the goalie who stopped Kylian Mbappe’s penalty in the 2020 Euro, was outstanding against Spain in the quarterfinals, and just won Serie A with Inter Milan, earning a vote for the team of the season, will still be a member of the Swiss team that plays in Germany.

Along with the captain of Torino, Ricardo Rodriguez, a left-back with well over 100 caps, it will also feature Granit Xhaka, who recently enjoyed the best season of his career with Xabi Alonso in Leverkusen after a much-needed career makeover following those frequently turbulent years at Arsenal.

Where there is Xhaka, there is also Xherdan Shaqiri, the little attacker who, at thirty-two, is still an essential member of the Swiss team despite apparently being upset that his international teammate received the armband instead of him.

Since scoring a hat-trick against Honduras during the 2014 World Cup, Shaqiri has scored in each of Switzerland’s previous five major competitions. Although he may have vanished from the European football scene, he is still a formidable opponent.

He left Liverpool in 2021 after a turbulent three-year career that included him being dubbed “no Liverpool champion” by Swiss pundit Arno Rossini, despite the fact that he played enough games to win a Premier League winners’ medal in 2019–20 and started that thrilling Champions League semifinal match against Barcelona the year before, setting up Gini Wijnaldum’s equaliser.

It didn’t exactly work out in France, though, and Shaqiri—who has been viewed as a bit player at a number of clubs—has since embraced the role of being an MLS’s “designated player” at Chicago Fire, accepting the wealth that accompanies it, despite his initial claims that it was a sort of “semi-retirement.” As a result, he even momentarily lost his spot in the Swiss squad.

Before Lionel Messi arrived and completely destroyed everyone else’s bankroll at Inter Miami, where he was joined by Sergio Busquets, Shaqiri was the highest-paid player in the Major League Soccer for a spell. Although Shaqiri drops to fourth when Lorenzo Insigne’s Toronto contract was renewed, almost $8 million a year is still a good deal, even considering Chicago’s recent struggles.

Even though he’ll be itching to hold on for a World Cup played in part in the United States in 2026, this is probably Shaqiri’s last big tournament with Switzerland, and the Swiss may need to draw inspiration from some of their younger players.

That could be challenging, though, given that Monaco’s explosive forward Breel Embolo has only played five games this season and only recently returned from an ACL injury in April. Ruben Vargas, Augsburg’s other attacker, has only scored four goals so far this season, and Renato Steffen and Steven Zuber are both past thirty.

Zeki Amdouni, a 23-year-old from Burnley, has seven goals in 14 international appearances as of this writing, but he has shown in the Premier League that he is not always reliable.

We’ve grown to anticipate the Swiss to be consistent in the Euros, making it to the final 16 almost often and occasionally even further, like the thrilling victory over France the previous round.

Though Switzerland’s veterans may not have as many young legs as they’ll need, Hungary and Scotland have younger, maybe hungry squads, so they could be up against it here. It will be difficult to leave the group, and even then, their chances of progressing are slim