Ottmar Hitzfeld believes that Bayern Munich are watching Granit Xhaka and that the midfielder is a ‘topic’ of conversation for top clubs.

“Bayern Munich certainly has Xhaka on their radar,” Hitzfeld told Basler Zeitung. “Xhaka is always a topic for current top clubs, and his development is still ongoing.” 

The German’s last managerial position was as coach of Switzerland which followed two spells as manager of Bayern Munich themselves, so he certainly knows the parties involved.

Xhaka only moved to Arsenal in the summer and has taken a while to settle, by his own admission.

Speaking in the matchday programme ahead of the game against Lincoln, Xhaka said, “At the start I needed to show patience. But I’ve integrated myself better and better in training and in matches.

“I feel very good here, which is most important. The last three games haven’t been so good, but in general, I can be satisfied.”

Speaking about the games against Bayern Munich, Xhaka said the thing that hurt him the most was that the 10-2 final scoreline did not accurately reflect the game. “I had a good feeling before the game,” Xhaka said. “We wanted to achieve something, to make the wonder come true. We knew it would be really tough to score goals against Bayern, but we started the game really well and I think we were the better team in the first half. Everyone showed real passion, determination and fight.

“We were all there for each other, giving everything – but then they got the penalty and the red card was shown. Once they scored, it was always going to be much harder than before. But a 5-1 scoreline was too severe.

“You need to try and forget about it, but when I got home after the game, I really thought about it – what went well, what didn’t. The scoreline tells a story that Bayern dominated the game, but in reality it wasn’t like that. That’s what hurts the most.”