The defensive midfielder arrived on Wearside last summer from Bayer Leverkusen and he relishes the challenge of playing for a club who always need to push themselves to the "limit" to get a result.

He told The Times newspaper: “Of course you can be Arsenal, City, where sometimes with 95 per cent you can beat someone, but I don’t think we are so far to beat someone even with 99. We need always to be on our limit to get points and maybe this is what I change a little bit, the mindset, the belief and the mentality.

“I say always, ‘I’m not here as a policeman, I’m not here to show the people, ‘Ah, I played there and there and there.’ No, no, no. I’m here because I want to win.

“In the end, we are sitting in the boat together: we lose together, we win together. If we are doing well, everyone profits from the cake, so put your head down and work together.”

This season, the 33-year-old sportsman hopes to see his former club Arsenal win the Premier League because of his loyalty to their manager, Mikel Arteta.

He said: “Oh, Mikel is a very special person for me. Without him I don’t think I will be here, where we are sitting today. This part, of human being, but the other part of football is just, I learnt a lot. I started to learn football in different way because of him.

“He prepares you so good that when you go on the pitch, you can really close your eyes and you know where the opponent is and you know where your team-mate is.

“I’m cheering for sure for Arsenal, but as well for the guys who deserved all season. I think we can be very open: Arsenal deserve to win the title.”