Chelsea and Xabi Alonso want to sign former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka which should be sounding early alarm bells in North London
Granit Xhaka moving to Chelsea is not a transfer that most would have had on their bingo cards, despite the links with Xabi Alonso. The former Arsenal fan has done exceptionally well for both Bayer Leverkusen and Sunderland since departing North London.
He is, for many Gunners supporters, the answer to the question: If you could choose one player from Mikel Arteta’s project to have won a Premier League medal that left before it came, who would it be? Rightly so, the Swiss international was a mainstay in Arteta’s side and had a huge hand in helping elevate the club to title competitiveness.
He proved that quality when becoming an Invincible with Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, and his quality at 33 years old has only remained. The emotional attachment for many fans remains, and seeing the former Arsenal man join Chelsea, like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Cesc Fabregas before him, will not doubt be a bitter pill to swallow.
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However, that is by far not enough reason to be irritated by this transfer, far from it. Chelsea have fallen so far behind Arsenal that most Gunners fans do not factor the Blues into their ambitions of English football domination.
Despite their millions, Chelsea have made so many successively poor decisions that the gap to their North London neighbours has only grown. Finishing tenth last season with no European football to speak of, 33 points behind Arsenal.
The gap was only five points in 2025, down from 26 in 2024 and 40 in 2023. Since 2022, when Chelsea did manage to finish above a rebuilding Arsenal, they have barely brushed their coattails.
While Arsenal have been strategic and measured in their squad-building, Chelsea’s scattergun approach to youthful starlets who have failed to deliver has left them with a promising squad lacking leadership and experience. Two qualities which, sadly, Xhaka has in spades.
This is not just a move that improves Chelsea, if it happens, which I sincerely hope it doesn’t, but it is a signal that perhaps things are changing, and already Alonso’s arrival has seen the tiller shifted to change course. That is what should be catching the eye, far more than any sentiments of an old player joining a London rival.
