Granit Xhaka and Bayer Leverkusen have had an agreement in place for a month, but Arsenal are delaying giving the green light.

Fabrizio Romano reports that Granit Xhaka and Bayer Leverkusen have had an agreement in place over his transfer for a month now, and that agreement remains valid and confirmed to this day.

But Arsenal will only green light the move once they sign a new midfielder, with Declan Rice as their priority target.

Reports in recent days had linked Xhaka with a potential move to Bayern Munich.

Yet Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sport Deutschland then reported that a Bayern move for Xhaka is “not hot at this stage”.

There are no talks internally about Xhaka, with Bayern focusing on other targets, and the midfielder himself focused on Bayer Leverkusen.

On that front, Kicker (via GGFN) report that Xhaka is nearing that move to Leverkusen, confirming that the transfer is on hold because Arsenal want to secure a top-class replacement first.

Arsenal are asking for €15m to sell Xhaka to Leverkusen, if and when the transfer eventually takes place.

On personal terms, there are expected to be no problems. Reports last week suggested Xhaka would sign on a four-year deal, and Kicker claim only small details remain before his contract is ready.

Xhaka had initially hoped the deal would be done before the game against Wolves on Sunday, so he could say a proper goodbye at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

The 30-year-old went on to score a brace in the Wolves game, and it seemed like a fitting farewell, even if Arsenal couldn’t officially make any announcements or give a formal farewell interview.

But the last part of the midfielder’s goodbye could be dragged out for a while yet.

Xhaka will take a cut to his salary to return to the Bundesliga, and Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso has reportedly had a very long talk with Xhaka, explaining his project for the coming years.

Leverkusen won’t be in the Champions League, after failing to win their Europa League semi-final against AS Roma. But they made it into the Europa League after finishing 6th in the Bundesliga.