Arsenal fansite Arsenal442 report that the official announcement of Granit Xhaka’s transfer to Bayer Leverkusen will take place very soon, within the next few days.
This follows quotes from the player last weekend, suggesting he hoped his future would be confirmed this week.
“You will know latest next week, for sure,” Xhaka said. “I think they (the fans) deserve that and I do myself as well.
“We have one more week of this Premier League season, the first thing is I want to enjoy [it] and, for sure, you guys will know next week what happens with my future.”
“Of course, if next week we know much more what happen with my future, I will be thankful for the fans because how they treat me after this, I didn’t expect that if I am honest.
“I am thankful for that and I want to give them something back [for] maybe my last game on Sunday.”
Various outlets have reported in recent days that the deal is already close to done.
Fabrizio Romano wrote that there’s no other club in the race than Bayer Leverkusen, and the deal is “very, very advanced”, with an agreement in the final stages for a €15m (£13m) transfer.
German outlet Kicker report that Xhaka is set to sign for Leverkusen, and nobody at the club has any doubts that the move will happen.
It’s described as a near ‘certainty’ that the midfielder will sign a four-year deal to join the Bundesliga club.
Xhaka will take a cut to his salary to return to the Bundesliga, and Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso reportedly had a very long talk with Xhaka last week, explaining his project for the coming years.
Xhaka’s impending exit could have various knock-on effects for the rest of Arsenal’s summer window.
An amicable deal with Leverkusen could pave the way for Arsenal to make a move for apparent target Moussa Diaby, as you’d imagine the Bundesliga club would be more willing to do business with Arsenal after securing Xhaka’s signature.
It would also give us our strongest hint yet that Arsenal are preparing to invest in signing multiple midfielders.
