Granit Xhaka has emerged as a target for Bayer Leverkusen as Arsenal step up their bid to land Youri Tielemans from Leicester.
The German side are planning for Champions League football next season for the first time in three seasons and are looking to add some experience to their squad. Xhaka offers that and the fact Gunners boss Mikel Arteta wants Foxes ace Tielemans is all the notice the Swiss star needs about his long-term future at the Etihad.
The Arsenal star, 29, is well regarded in Germany after a successful four-year stint with Borussia Moenchengladbach. He left them for Arsenal in 2016 and has had a mixed time in north London, where he has often been made the scapegoat for poor performances and, of course, had a serious falling-out with fans after responding to boos when he was substituted in a game against Crystal Palace in 2019.
Xhaka almost left the club then but rode out the storm and, last season, was one of his side’s better players. But Arteta is continuing his revamp this summer and Tielemans is his top target.
Thomas Partey would form a partnership with the Belgian if Arteta is successful in landing him and that will pave the way for Xhaka’s departure. It is understood that representatives from Moenchengladbach have been in London in the past week for discussions over Xhaka.
If Xhaka were to leave Arsenal this summer, he would do so with two FA Cup winners’ medals and runners-up medals from the Europa League and EFL Cup. Tielemans also boasts an FA Cup to his name, having scored the decisive goal in the 2020 final against Chelsea.
The 25-year-old has just one year remaining on his contract at the King Power and has refused to close the door on a potential exit this summer. Whilst on international duty with Belgium, he was asked if he could leave Leicester this summer, replying: “That is not out of the question. But I can also stay. I feel very good at Leicester, I was welcomed with open arms from day one. I give everything for the club until the last day.
“But of course you have to listen to other opportunities, you have to look at your career, and sometimes you have to make choices. Maybe one will come my way.
"You need to stay calm. I’m good where I am. I still have a year left on my contract. I’m not in a rush. When you change clubs, you don’t change just to change. You change because there is a great project on the table.
“For a player, the most important thing is to play. It’ll be up to me to make the right decision regarding my future this summer, but now, I’m relaxed and focusing on the Red Devils.”
