Sunderland have rejected an £8m offer from Chelsea to sign midfielder Granit Xhaka.
Chelsea have made an approach to sign the 33-year-old, with Xabi Alonso keen to reunite with his former Bayer Leverkusen player in West London.
Xhaka excelled under Alonso’s management in Germany, where he was part of the Leverkusen team that won the Bundesliga title for the first time, unbeaten, in 2023/24. He was named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season in each of his two campaigns working with Alonso.
Xhaka joined Sunderland from Leverkusen last summer for a fee of around £17m and captained the newly-promoted Black Cats to Europa League qualification. The Switzerland international was named Sunderland’s Player of the Season.
According to The Athletic, Sunderland have rejected an ‘unacceptable’ offer from Chelsea and have insisted no further proposals will be entertained. Regis Le Bris’ side do not want to lose their captain, who is contracted at The Stadium of Light until 2028.
Chelsea believe their opening bid was ‘fair’ value for a player who will turn 34 in September. Xhaka is understood to be open to reuniting with Alonso and returning to London, having spent seven seasons at Arsenal earlier in his career.
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