Kevin Campbell says the reason Arsenal is giving a new contract to Granit Xhaka this summer is to protect his value.
The Switzerland captain is one of the key players at the club and Mikel Arteta wants to keep working with him.
The Gunners are currently rebuilding their squad and it involves selling some players as they also buy new ones.
AS Roma had been looking to take advantage of that to sign Xhaka, with Jose Mourinho reportedly a fan of the Swiss midfielder.
However, both clubs couldn’t reach an agreement over his sale and he looks set to continue at Arsenal.
Football London revealed earlier in the month that Arteta is confident of keeping the Swiss midfielder on a new contract.
Campbell was speaking about the former Arsenal captain’s future recently and the ex-Gunners striker says he might still leave the Emirates.
However, Arsenal is giving him a new contract so that they would protect themselves from him entering the last year of his current deal and running it down.
“Here’s the thing, obviously he was looking to leave,” Campbell told Football Insider.
“The love-in with Roma and Mourinho was there but they tried to stiff Arsenal on the deal.
“They moved the goalposts after agreeing to sell him. So if you’re Arsenal you turn round and say no.
“Xhaka only has two years left and you don’t want to get into the scenario when he runs his contract down.
“You have to protect your asset, that’s what Arsenal are doing. He still might end up leaving.
“Nothing is set in stone but if you’re Arsenal and you look at bodies, they aren’t bringing in enough.
“They might need to rely on Xkaka.”
How can you protect the value of a player if he doesn’t have any?
This summer, after one of the greatest performances of Xhaka’s careers we still couldn’t move him on for £20m. Increasing his salary does nothing, and if anything makes it harder to sell him in the future. You just know with a mistake ridden season, we will be lumbered with him well into his 30s.
Absolutely mind numbing decision by Arsenal.
What value? Is logical thinking dead?
Do you think we’ll be offered more for Xhaka before or after the following:
Extended contract
Increased wages
Older
Slower
If only one club on the planet was only willing to offer 12-15 mil this transfer window do you think we’ll miraculously have more offers that are higher in value next year?
Anyone thinking with their head as opposed to their heart would know that’s the reason for offering him a new contract.
1. Roma tried to stiff us on the deal. I suspect they were counting on fan pressure to force arsenal to sell for less, but it didn’t work. If you think their valuation was too low, then consider this. Of all the alternatives they were looking at as the second choice to Xhaka, who was cheaper? How’s your second choice going to be more expensive than your first choice?
2. Xhaka has improved over the last two seasons, and emotions aside, there is no reason to believe he’ll regress. Refusing to sell him for low then allowing him to run his contract down would be a disaster. Arsenal is better suited to give him a new contract. If they have to sell in January or next summer, it’s not under pressure to make back whatever they can, but rather from a good negotiating position. The length of the contract is a good indicator of that.
You don’t like how Xhaka plays, that’s ok, you don’t have to. But there is no reason for the club to willingly take a loss they don’t have to just to appease the fans. Think with your head.
Joe I understand that you are hiding behind, “think with your head” but most will know on here that you are a huge MA and Xhaka fan. I think you should possibly take your own advice and remove your emotions from your thinking.
So he’s greatly improved over 2 years + was priced relatively low right? So how on earth could we not get a buyer for him at 20mil even?
You also forget that the longer Xhaka stays the more he hinders the development of players like Lokonga and Azeez.
I will admit I’m a fan, but I don’t see how arsenal benefits from losing a player for less than he’s worth. That’s what I call thinking with my head.
Right now, we are chasing James Madison, whom if the deal happens should cost in excess of 50m. If we had cashed in on Xhaka for 12m, we’d have needed to replace him. That means, that we more likely than not would have had to gamble on a different, probably less preferable CAM than James(hope we get him).
All I’m saying is, it didn’t make sense for us to be in a hurry to loose a player that was our best midfielder last season and prioritize that over getting a first team CAM, who we didn’t even have last season.
I’ve laid out my thoughts a little jumbled , but I hope you can follow. We’d have needed an extra 30m to spend on a CM if we’d sold Xhaka, and we’d still have inevitably needed a CAM.
With that said though, it’s best to think about the future. If Xhaka is able to fill the hole for at least one season to get Lokonga to bed in, then we should be able to still sell him for a reasonable price next season without the imminent pressure of having to look for an immediate and probably more expensive replacement.
Finally, on Azeez, if he’s good, he should just outperform Xhaka. I don’t believe in this whole one player staying blocks the route for another player coming in. Saka started out at Left Back, but for a big chunk of last season, he kept Pepe out of that RW spot because he proved he’s good. If Azeez is good, then he needs to show the coach. As it stands, Xhaka, Lokonga, Elneny and Partey are all ahead of him, and he needs to change the coach’s mind.
Arsenal drop to 8th with him playing through out and the rest of the deadwoods William,nkethia,holding and hector why they still there the club needs new blood of talent sake and esm raised to the occasion arteta need to put trust in willock,nelson and Gabi and add Bruno and Hassan aroar both from Lyon and one kepper save money for January transfers if injury mes up your plan
Your reasoning is 100% valid. But, you missed a crucial factor.
The tenure of the person, Mikel Arteta, approving the contract extension. Arteta, if everything goes his way, is guaranteed to be here with us for the next two seasons. The same as Xhaka under current terms. And that’s a long, long time in club football.
If Arteta manages to earn himself another season and if Xhaka remains crucial to Arteta’s plans at that moment, it’s a no-brainer to bow down to his demands then.
Right now, do Xhaka deserves an upgrade in his contract based on his performances and his contribution to the team in the last season? I don’t think so. Even if he does, give him a raise in his wages and not the length of the contract.
No matter how long Xhaka is contracted with us or how good he performs well on the pitch, we are never going to recoup anything closer to the value we’ve invested in him. It doesn’t matter if we are to lose 6 mils or 12 mils or 20 mils. We’ve made much bigger losses in the past and have survived.
Believe me, there won’t be any massive fan’s protest outside of the Emirates, even if we let Xhaka walk out for free, right now. And they’ll be happy to send Willian to accompany him.
The only thing that we couldn’t handle are the “deadwood” situations and we’ve had more than our fair share in the past few seasons. Why try to create a new deadwood situation right now, when we have other pressing issues in our hand???
Joe your point 1 leads exactly into my original post. If as I said, after one of the performances of the Euros the only team in Europe that came In for him was a mid table Italian side. What does that say about the player?
How are your protecting your asset if he’s sat on the bench as he will be when Partey returns from injury? Tell me a club that will be happy to match or increase his wages from £110-£120k a week during a pandemic? I will answer that question. There isn’t one.
Thank you Brother@ Joe Allysons. Teach them👍👋 i couldn’t add more. Your sentiments are well detailed and well articulated. Xhaka was our most consistent player from last season and fully deserves another contract regardless of adding him value. These fans don’t deserve to be appeased for not liking Xhaka. There is a reason why all our Managers use him throughout the season and rarely substitute him. But they can’t see that with their one eyed lenses. Let him “Sign da ting ” men!!
How many of the managers have been sacked since xhaka arrived, if he is so good how come we have plummeted year after year since he arrived and we couldn’t shift him for 15mil euros to anyone. Why does he never get MOM by pundits or media outlets, why does he get overrun in midfield and why is he the player in the team that has made the most mistakes that has led to a goal against, officially. If we had been successful in the last 5 years you would have and argument but we haven’t and he has been right in the thick of it.
Just to clarify- we intend to offer a player a new contract to protect his value – but we can’t sell him at said value in the first place ????
And beware – halfway through said new contract, Granit X will be sitting in the stand under an umbrella, feet up & chilling !
Is it me, or is the running of our place getting progressively worse ?
Book early for this years pantomime – “Up The Arsenal” !
What value !
Jose didn’t even want to pay 18 mil for him ,unless he was just joking around with us to get our hopes up .
Good old Jose .
although I too postulated the notion that Jose could have been trolling us all along, especially considering his oft-times contentious relationship with our fanbase and our former manager, the thing that infuriates me the most is that based on his specific actions/antics, leading up to, during and immediately following the Euros, there’s no doubt in my mind that Xhaka was collaborating with Jose, behind the scenes, in the hopes of forcing his way out of our club for a much lower fee than we required…it’s mindboggling that many fans are seemingly ignoring this very pertinent detail in the negotiation process…as such, he should have never been allowed to wear the kit ever again…how is this clown allowed totally disrespect the badge time and time again before someone actually holds him accountable…it’s clear that Arteta’s “zero tolerance” policy only apply to select players…with this in mind, I still can’t help but wonder what “secret” information does this player hold that makes him so uniquely untouchable, from a club perspective
allowed to…
Music to the ear of Xhaka fans who think he’s the best thing to happen to us.
For those of us that differ, it’s another saga looming when the club clearly needs an upgrade of Xhaka.
Another ozil saga is looming…..
For how long do we think Granit X will be in the heart of our midfield? 2? 3years? Nope ( unless we want to be the same), then u give that person 4 yrs contract when he ll b 30s possibly on the bench?then tell me how someone could come to buy the aged GX by then that won’t av playing time…..
And who tells u that Arteta will b at the helm for too long, another coach could just come and reshape everything and xhaka won’t b a starter by then
Says who?
4 coaches since Xhaka signed and none bench him. So how sure are you that the next coach will bench him?
How can you protect his value he will be a year older who wants him then only one team wanted him now
How many teams wanted the fans target?
Even Juve are prioritising 30+ old Pjanic over Locatelli and waiting for him to be free.
What Value?
There has been no official announcement of a new contract yet so I think we should wait and see.
Exactly Declan
We couldn’t sell him after he had a very good Euros next season he will be 29 well closing on 30 we missed our chance to get a decent fee for him from then on his value is going to continually drop and if he signs a a contract extension (improved) we will have to add him to the list of players like Ozil Auba Laca Bellerin Wilian..that some fans will use as another reason/excuse as to why we can’t buy anyone the never ending” we can’t buy this that player until so so is gone”we all remember the “once Ozil and Co are gone we’ll be able to invest in the squad”sadly most of it was wasted.
why would we give him an increase in salary ?. what has that got to with protecting his value. this is THE greatest excuse i have ever heard. bring on the fun and games , and, goodness help us.i now have no time for arteta, any manager that agrees to keep this sloth needs sacking.
the only way for him to agree to an extension is for the club to offer him an increase otherwise we know what will happen he will either run down his contract or be sold for peanuts and both parties are aware of it.
I am 100% worried about our arsenal players doesn’t it our players valuation has gone down 20million or below i haven’t any player who has been bought for more than 20milions joe Newcastle want to buy at 20millions what’s happening
I believe no fan will support Arsenal if they choose to renew Martinez contract (if a club had bid 10M for him before his breakthrough season) but guess what, his value plummet.
Why I don’t normally support Fans opinion even when the management are proving to be a failure is because 90% of fans are always wrong on transfer.
80% want Xhaka out but same 80% want Auba to be given whatever he want. Imagine what would have happened if Auba was sold last year and we have that same season?
Now that Auba failed same 80% wants him out.
How do you expect the board to take you serious about transfer?
Almost every fans(Me included) want any of Bissouma, Koopmeiners, Locatelli and Neves. And have to devalue Xhaka in the process by saying No club except Roma was after Xhaka and even Roma refuse to pay 12M.
With your Logic, it means only Locatelli and Neves are manageable like Xhaka cos I see no club bidding for Koopmeiners nor Bissouma. Even Juve want Pjanic now and hoping Locatelli can come on free transfer.
We’re all keyboard specialist and none as run a club before, so is either you live with the way they run the club or quit watching football so you won’t develop heart attack because of Xhaka in an Arsenal shirt.
As for me, I agree with the contract but not the increase in salary.
always apples to oranges…