Despite the promising performances of Mohamed Elneny, Arsenal are still expected to chase a midfield signing this summer.
Midfield options Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta are set to leave the club, leaving the squad light on defensive-minded midfield players. The Gunners would be left with Santi Cazorla, who is already over 30 and badly injured. There’s nothing to prove Cazorla’s return will see him perform to his usual high standards.
Arsène Wenger does also have Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere, but the fitness of the latter can’t be relied upon.
It is interesting, then, that Bild are reporting a bid of €43m for Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder Granit Xhaka will be made this summer.
The Swiss midfielder has previously admitted he would be interested in a move to Arsenal and he’s certainly the type of player the Gunners should be interested in: good on the ball and intelligent defensively.
According to the report, Wenger met with Xhaka’s agent over the weekend to discuss a move in the summer. Xhaka, 23, will be representing Switzerland at Euro 2016 and Arsenal could be keen to strike a deal before he impresses at the tournament.
In his contract with Gladbach, Xhaka has a €30m release clause but that isn’t active until the summer of 2017, meaning the Bundesliga club will look for far more money for a club to wrap up a deal in the near future. Bild also claim that Xhaka’s salary at Arsenal would be in the range of £120,000-a-week but it is clearly too early to say if a deal with even happen, let alone how much the player will earn.
A fee of around £34m would be huge for Arsenal, who have only ever spent more on Mesut Özil, but if Wenger sees Xhaka as the man to fix the midfield then it’s not impossible to see truth in the reports.