AS Roma are considering alternative options to the signing of Steven N’Zonzi this summer, and one player catching their eye is Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka, according to reports.

Alessandro Austini, an Italian journalist for Il Tempo, writes that Roma very much like Xhaka, and are considering him as an alternative to the Sevilla midfielder. The La Liga side are holding out for N’Zonzi’s €40m release clause, which is seemingly beyond the reach of Roma, so they’re having to look elsewhere instead.

It really doesn’t seem like they’ll have much more luck with Arsenal and Xhaka though. Unai Emery has just tied the midfielder down to a new five-year deal, and gave him the captaincy in the club’s final pre-season friendly against Lazio.

You never know how much a new manager is going to rate a player left for him by the previous boss. It’s always possible the Swiss international doesn’t fit Emery’s plans for some reason. However, given Xhaka’s contract situation, you’d expect Arsenal to hold out for a high fee if they did want to sell.

With just a few days left of the Premier League transfer window, it seems unlikely Roma would have time to convince Arsenal to sell and find a replacement. We’ll see.