Granit Xhaka is claimed to have agreed personal terms with Roma ahead of a proposed move, but the club are yet to meet Arsenal’s asking price.
The midfielder enjoyed a fine Euro 2020 campaign with Switzerland, picking up a UEFA Star of the Match award for his troubles in eliminating France in the round of 16.
He is now awaiting news on his potential move, whilst being on holiday with all of the players who participated in international tournaments allowed to return back for pre-season a little later than the rest.
Xhaka is claimed to have already agreed personal terms on a contract with Roma, who recently unveiled new manager Jose Mourinho, although this transfer saga is beginning to become drawn out.
Arsenal are claimed by La Gazzetta to still be standing firm in their valuation of £17 Million, and the Italian side still appear to be refusing.
After Xhaka’s exploits for Switzerland, I’m a little surprised they haven’t simply agreed to the fee, as his performances should have drawn further attention from other potential suitors, and I certainly wouldn’t be shocked if Arsenal were to begin negotiating elsewhere, especially as we will likely be reinvesting that money into midfield signings of our own.
Can anyone imagine Granit still being an Arsenal player once the window slams shut?
Patrick
To be honest, if I were the board I will just put 10 million pounds on each of these players –
Bellerin
Torreira
Willian
Runarsson
Niles
Nelson
Nketiah
Kolasinac
Xhaka
That should give us about 90 million pounds to assist the transfer budget.
10 million on runarson,Willian,kasinac,terriera are you making a joke?
10 mil for kolasinac, Willian or Runarsson os not going to happen. We can’t even give them away free.
So we should sell players cheap even if their value should be higher? Is that your logic?
While you are at it give your house and vehicle away for 100 bucks each
Thank God you are not the board
Easy to give other people’s money away isn’t it?
Then, after that, easy to spend other people’s money.
How on earth we expect the kronkie’s to listen to this kind of nonsense is a mystery to me, especially when the reported offer for Xhaka is supposedly £15,000,000 anyway!!!!
Bellerin 20
Torreira 15
Willian 5
Runarsson 1
Niles 15
Nelson 15
Nketiah 15
Kolasinac 5
Xhaka 15
A bit more realistic, plus willock to Newcastle for 25 mil, we could probably get more for our young English guys if Edu handles it well.
@daveydave46
How much then for ESR, since we can get more for the young players. And since your insistent on selling Willock, who is streets ahead of ESR…
That’s bad business…arsenal should keep xhaka …
Think £17 million is more than fair; basically half what we paid, and Xhaka is at a good age with years left to play.
If he is set on the move, then let him lower his wages or signing bonus to make up some of the difference, let his agent lower his fee.
There are other parties involved in the deal, not just Arsenal.
Otherwise, he can stay and compete for a spot; no more automatic starts because we lack a better midfielder.
Being ruthless is not just with players, it’s with other clubs, agents, managers, and even owners if necessary.
Business isn’t personal or nice oftentimes, it has to be practical.
Spot on.
Agree with you, Durand and Grandad
The agents aren’t shy at getting deals for their players
Yep totally agree- Xhaka proved at the Euros what a good player he is. He also proved in the years at Arsenal that he was not able to perform in the Premier League that he is just not quick or mobile enough to perform in our game.
Whoever thought he was should be sacked. Errrr… actually he was and if only for the fact he brought Xhaka over Kante.
Even if a player is up for grabs, the club gotta put a “NOT FOR SALE” sign in the public. Whatever happens behind closed doors with players and agents, needn’t be made public.
Every transfer window, every club usually have at least a handful of players available in the market with a price tag. But, this window, only at Arsenal (well, Barca too), only a handful of players are “NOT FOR SALE” and the rest of the squad is up for grabs.
“Ruthless” counts for nothing as long the decision makers are “clueless” about their process.
SJ, you are suggesting “Auctioning” the players you mentioned. You make me laugh. Some are not even worth it. 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
For once, Arsenal are holding the aces on the
layers others. So they should stand firm and get good value for any out-goings
Yay! But if we cant afford Aouar because we cant sell Xhaka would you feel the same? I know I would, because I’m fed up with being financially abused by clubs, players and agents.
Nice one Phil…two former high-level EPL midfielders turned pundits have expressed similar sentiments regarding the aforementioned Swiss midfielder:
Roy Keane said: “Xhaka has been poor for Arsenal for a number of seasons but when he plays for Switzerland he is unbelievable…but you do get a lot more time on the ball in international football and that may play a part in it.”
whereas Ray Parlour remarked that “if he goes to Roma, I think Italy is perfect for him. It’s a slower game over there and you know Xhaka has got the passing ability to excel there. The pace of the Premier League is maybe just a little bit too much for him. Consistency is so important in midfield, you’ve got to be performing like that week in week out and at times he’s had poor games – like 4 out of 10 games – and you need a player who will guarantee you a 7, 8 or 9 every week”
by hook or by crook, we simply need to get something done, even if that requires some financial finagling or lowering our expectations a tad, so we can finally turn the page on this relatively underwhelming chapter…personally, I would have tried to pry Pellegrini away from them, even though this would have likely cost us Xhaka and some considerable makeweight cash, as I only truly rate him and Zaniola from their current squad(realistically speaking)…not to mention, they still owe us for the sweet-ass Miki deal our administrative mental midgets acquiesced to just a year and change ago
The thought process to turn down 10M for Mikhi and then turn around and let him go for free a few months later will have to be one of the most incompetent decisions in the history of decisions! It’s Kroenke’s fault though that such incompetent folks are running Arsenal into the ground.
TRVL4E- but that’s just it regarding Xhaka is it not? We all saw it from very early on. He was picking up cards every other game. He rarely broke forward. He looked decent but that was all. Yet Wenger had him scouted and preferred him over Kante.
I actually believe Arteta got more from Xhaka than Wenger and Emery ever did. He used him to provide the pivot on the left and he seemed to naturally cover the LB/LWB.
Good player. Never an Arsenal or Premier League player. Will do well in Europe.
Xhaka is not going anywhere – but no-one believes me!
We set a bad precedent last season creating deadwood, in effect eating losses on player contracts. Now we are wondering why Roma and Inter are expecting us to eat more losses for Xhaka and Bellerin respectively. Reap what you sow!
No RF the point here is that we are refusing to be taken for mugs time and time again. We are at last drawing a line. Short term loss of cash maybe but long term return of self respect and credibility. It’s incidental that Xhaka is the player involved – its the principle of letting clubs and also players and their money-grabbing agents know that we will no longer be walked all over. Long may it continue.
Amen, guy.
The elephant in the room for a lot of these players are the contracted wages they are on. We rarely find out that the reasons deals don’t happen is not that the clubs can’t agree a fee but the player who “just wants to play” refuses to take a pay cut to do so. Willian is just the tip of the iceberg.
The club is damned if they dont re-sign a player (imagine the outcry if we had let Ozil leave after Sanchez, or not re-signed Auba!) but then criticised when we cant offload them. It’s not always the clubs fault.
I’m really pleased we are holding out for a fair fee for Xhaka. It’s disgusting when players criticise their club for not giving them away, rather then the buying club for refusing to pay a fair fee.
It may well cost us the cash to buy a decent c/am but on this principle I can live with it.
I get the thought-process behind your position, Guy, but this isn’t the hill we want to die on…Xhaka’s poor play for the better part of his time here, combined with his unbecoming “bird flipping” incident and his game-plan specific skillset, have clearly negatively impacted his market value…the fact that he appeared to have found his form for a couple games at the Euros, might create a stir amongst the average fan, but most clubs understand the reality of the situation and this alone certainly won’t dramatically change their pre-tournament valuations
furthermore, his “loose lips” during several press junkets, regarding his footballing future, likely destroyed any advantage his uptick in form may have provided us at the bargaining table…in fact, he’s left us in a real bind, as his not-so-subtle “easter eggs” about his potential move to Rome was crippling, from a leverage perspective, and as such he simply can’t return to the club in the wake of his totally self-serving actions
as such, he should have been sold as quickly as humanly possible, even if it didn’t quite meet our expectant valuation, to minimize the potential baggage of this not-so-friendly breakup…the sooner this happened, the better for our already fragile club that can’t afford another PR misstep…not to mention, the arrival of new blood would have shifted the focus away from the burning garbage can in the corner of the room
I’m torn on this one RVL.. Although I stated above that the principle is more important than the individual involved, it IS unfortunate its Xhaka. But this one makes me so ANGRY, and I don’t believe we should buckle again to what is essentially blackmail.
He is not suited to EPL
He is perfect for Italy
He was listed at a fair price IMO and Roma knew that
His value increased at the Euros but our price didnt
Roma refuse to pay the price but want the player anyway. Nobody ever sells US players on that basis
Xhaka has agreed terms. I am confident he is not reducing those terms to help Roma with the fee
Roma are getting a bargain but even that isn’t enough
You could well be right RVL – not worth cutting off our nose to spite our face, but if we dont, Roma and Xhaka get exactly what they are scheming towards, and we again are seen as a soft touch.
Sooooo angry about this one!
Nobody with a sane mind will ever criticise a future employer. But, it happened to current employers in the past, especially when the employees were labled as incapables and dispensibles.
wouldn’t have NOT won’t