Chelsea working on Granit Xhaka deal with manager Xabi Alonso keen on move

Chelsea are working on a deal to sign Sunderland’s Granit Xhaka, who is keen on the idea of a move to west London.

New Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso is determined to reunite with the midfielder, having coached him for two seasons at Bayer Leverkusen.

Sunderland, though, have no intention currently of selling Xhaka, who remains an important part of their planning and is under contract at the Stadium of Light through to 2028. Chelsea appear unwilling to pay a large fee for a player who turns 34 later this year.

The former Arsenal player joined Sunderland from Leverkusen last summer in a €20million ($17.3m; $22.8m) deal and was immediately made captain, playing an influential role in the newly-promoted club’s seventh-place Premier League finish and qualification for next season’s Europa League.

Xhaka is currently at the World Cup with Switzerland, who have qualified for the last-32 stage of the competition.

Xhaka spent seven seasons at Arsenal between 2016 and 2023 before joining Leverkusen, where he was an integral player under Alonso as the club won their first Bundesliga title in 2023-24, alongside winning the DFB-Pokal and reaching the Europa League final.

Chelsea are also set to sign defender Marco Palestra from Atalanta, while winger Geovanny Quenda and striker Emmanuel Emegha will join the club in a pre-agreed transfers.

A change in transfer strategy from Chelsea?

Analysis by Chelsea correspondent Simon Johnson

This is the clearest evidence yet that Chelsea’s desire to buy ready-made players is not just all talk.

The first summer deal for Serie A’s defender of the year in Palestra gave a hint of that but he is also just 21 years old, so akin to the kind of age range Chelsea have looked at over the past four years under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium.

Chelsea’s strong interest in Crystal Palace’s 26-year-old centre back Maxence Lacroix is another strong indication. But by going after Xhaka, a player who turns 34 in September, the club are breaking new ground under this ownership.

Palestra is set to be Chelsea’s first summer signing (Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)

They have not acquired a player at such a late stage of his career before. Defender Kalidou Kouilbaly is the oldest acquisition of the BlueCo era up to now, joining from Napoli at the age of 31 in 2022. He was sold to Al-Hilal just 12 months later.

Xhaka, who spent seven years at Arsenal, has far greater knowledge of playing in the Premier League than Kouilbaly had and will not need time to adapt to life in the capital.

Chelsea feel there is a need for some more mature voices in the dressing room and, while it is not necessarily all about just buying someone older, Xhaka’s impact on and off the pitch at Sunderland last season is clearly something that could benefit the west London club now.

There is also a very strong connection with Alonso, with the Switzerland international having played under the Spaniard for two years at Leverkusen. The Bundesliga club won the double of league and cup when the duo were there, going unbeaten throughout the domestic campaign.

Having someone he trusts and knows so well help him get his Chelsea tenure underway will surely appeal to Alonso.

A blow for Sunderland – and perhaps a sense of inevitability?

Analysis by football finance writer Chris Weatherspoon

There is little point sugar-coating it, little need to embellish: Xhaka’s departure would be an incalculable blow to Sunderland.

From the moment he arrived, to the shock of many, on Wearside, Xhaka has been central to everything, the driving force behind a newly promoted club which didn’t so much avoid relegation as forget the possibility even existed.

His departure now would be the most keenly felt at Sunderland since Darren Bent moved to Aston Villa 15 years ago, a move mired in acrimony and for which Sunderland fans have never forgiven their former striker. Then, Bent engineered a move as Sunderland were pushing for Europe.

Xhaka actually got them there, and this news is all the more dismaying for his comments in the immediate aftermath of last month’s season-ending victory against — and who could have written it? — Chelsea. Then, with Europa League qualification unexpectedly clinched and the Stadium of Light raucous, Xhaka addressed an adoring fan base from the centre circle: “I can promise you, from my side as a captain of this football club, this is just the beginning and we will want more.”

Xhaka is with Switzerland at the World Cup (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

That was just five short weeks ago and, while no deal has been agreed yet, the direction of travel is clear. Chelsea want him and, more importantly, Xhaka wants Chelsea.

Sunderland will fight tooth and nail for a bumper fee for a player who has two years remaining on his contract, and are already making clear he is not for sale, but there is an inevitability to these things. They have no need to bend over but exigency may soon come into play. The squad already needs upgrades to cope with the extra workload of European football, and they will need assurances of Xhaka’s commitment to the cause if he does stay. His centrality to their fortunes cannot be overstated.

More broadly, this move happening would see Sunderland firmly join the ranks of the Premier League’s middle, whereby the best players are soon snaffled by those with deeper pockets. Xhaka was presumed to be immune from that; he is 34 in September and has been made such a central figure on Wearside that it was hard to envisage anyone coming along and offering enough to either him or Sunderland.

Instead, Chelsea’s interest reflects just how good he was last season.