A move tailor-made for Xabi Alonso has been called OFF despite a full verbal agreement on personal terms being struck, and the player has ‘personally informed’ the Chelsea boss it’s game over.
After a hugely disappointing 10th-placed finish last term, Chelsea have no European football next season. As such, the Blues have the opportunity to put their full focus on the Premier League and the minimum expected will be Champions League qualification.
However, unless BlueCo provide new manager Xabi Alonso with a handful of readymade and impactful signings, the Spaniard will be fighting a losing battle at Stamford Bridge, just as so many of his predecessors in the dugout have.
Chelsea’s hierarchy are well aware they need to add proven Premier League experience to compliment the sky high potential they’re getting with players like Marco Palestra.
As such, the Blues recently made a play for Sunderland and Switzerland ace, Granit Xhaka, who is ageing like a fine wine.
The deal made sense on many levels, with 33-year-old Xhaka already a force in the Premier League and a known commodity to Alonso.
The midfielder starred under Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen during a time when the German side lifted their first ever Bundesliga title in the 2023/24 campaign.
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Sky Germany revealed Chelsea has struck a full verbal agreement on personal terms with Xhaka. A surprisingly low bid of £8m followed, and predictably, it was laughed off by Sunderland.
Fabrizio Romano is reporting Chelsea don’t believe this story is over and could return with an improved second offer.
However, according to Gianluca Di Marzio, it’s game over and Xhaka himself has ‘personally confirmed’ to Alonso that he WON’T be joining Chelsea this summer.
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Granit Xhaka tells Xabi Alonso he’s not joining Chelsea
Taking to X, he wrote: ‘Granit Xhaka has personally confirmed to Xabi Alonso that he will not go to Chelsea. The Swiss player will stay at Sunderland.’
Delving deeper on his own website, Di Marzio added: ‘Granit Xhaka will continue to wear the Sunderland shirt.
‘The Swiss midfielder has personally informed Xabi Alonso that he will not be joining the Blues.
‘The former Arsenal player has decided to continue his adventure with the Black Cats.’
Di Marzio then stated Alonso is ‘disappointed’ at Xhaka’s decision, and the Spaniard had ‘wanted to count on’ the veteran in his first season with the Blues.
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