Granit Xhaka’s agent has confirmed the player wants a transfer to Sunderland, but Bayer Leverkusen boss Erik ten Hag insists the former Gunner is going nowhere.
Following a report from David Ornstein on Tuesday revealing that Granit Xhaka wants a move to Sunderland, the player’s agent spoke out publicly to confirm the news.
“We’ve reached an agreement in principle (on personal terms) with Sunderland,” Jose Noguera said (via Florian Plettenberg). “Granit wants to return to the Premier League. Sunderland excites him – he wants to take on this challenge.
“We hope Leverkusen will respect his wish to leave and that the clubs will find an agreement soon.”
Not long after that, Fabrizio Romano reported that Sunderland had submitted their first official bid to Bayer Leverkusen for the transfer. He added that it hadn’t been accepted, but that Leverkusen were aware of Xhaka’s desire to leave and negotiations would continue soon.
Yet there was a twist in the story later in the day, as Leverkusen head coach Erik ten Hag insisted the midfielder isn’t for sale.
“The agent of Xhaka can say whatever he wants, but this club has already let three important players go, and we won’t let any more go,” ten Hag said. “Granit is a leader, he still has three years left on his contract here.”
Ten Hag is presumably referring to the sales of Odilon Kossounou to Atalanta, and Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool. The club have already brought in almost €200m this summer, so they have no real financial incentive to sell Xhaka.
But with the player pushing for the move, you never know what might happen. Sunderland will likely still feel there’s a deal to be done at the right price.