Granit Xhaka was the subject of an £8million offer from Chelsea over the weekend but Sunderland, who insist he is not for sale, quickly rejected the proposal
We await to see whether Chelsea make another approach to Sunderland for midfielder Granit Xhaka after an £8million offer was turned down on Sunday evening.
Xabi Alonso is determined to make the 33-year-old midfielder one of his first signings as Blues manager after their successful days together at Bayer Leverkusen. Xhaka is thought to be keen on reuniting with the Spaniard, but Sunderland are less keen to see the pair work alongside each other once again.
Sources close to the Stadium of Light insist Xhaka is not for sale and further offers will not be welcomed. It will be intriguing to see if whether Chelsea will call Sunderland’s bluff in that regard.
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Xhaka is a sign of the west London club’s tweaked transfer strategy this summer. Instead of targeting young players – a fixture of BlueCo’s four-year tenure – the Blues are looking to add ready-made talent into the squad to bring a create a more mature, experienced culture. Xhaka is the embodiment of experience.
At 33, Xhaka has eight major honours to his name; and on top of that, he has just under a decade’s worth of experience in the Premier League with Arsenal and Sunderland. The man who brought the Switzerland international to the Emirates Stadium, Arsene Wenger, has often been very complimentary of Xhaka and his leadership skills – something Chelsea are desperately missing in their young squad at the moment.
After Xhaka helped Switzerland overcome France on penalties in the Euros in 2021 (initially supposed to be played in 2020), Wenger spoke about how the midfielder would have been helping his teammates. Speaking on beIN Sports, Wenger said: “He was exceptional, all his choices were good. He was the one who rallied the troops before the penalties.”
Said leadership was made even clearer in September 2019 when Unai Emery named Xhaka club captain. However, his time as captain lasted just over a month after a falling out with Gunners supporters in November. Xhaka was sarcastically cheered off by his own fans and he reacted angrily when walking off the pitch.
Emery confirmed the decision to strip Xhaka of the captain’s armband shortly after. Xhaka, however, revived his Arsenal career under Emery’s successor Mikel Arteta. Despite turning his fortunes around, Arteta did not name Xhaka captain when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang departed the club in February 2022.
Either way, Arteta was a huge fan of Xhaka during their time working together in north London, and also valued the midfielder’s leadership qualities. “He’s a natural leader,” said Arteta in June 2020. “He’s someone who is always 1000% committed, not just for himself but to help all of his teammates all the time. I’m happy that you can hear him more now.”
Xhaka’s leadership is just one of a multitude of reasons Alonso wants to reunite with the former Leverkusen midfielder. He will be hoping the Blues can get the deal over the line in the coming weeks.
