Chelsea’s strong effort to sign Granit Xhaka has abruptly ended after Sunderland made it very clear they wouldn’t be selling.
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Chelsea’s summer has not quite got going in terms of signings, but there have been no shortage of rumours around.
Last week was all about Granit Xhaka, the Sunderland midfielder who was requested by new manager Xabi Alonso. The Blues made an initial £8m offer for him, but then found strong resistance from the Black Cats.
The Deal Sheet from the Athletic makes it pretty clear that this is the end of the road for this rumour.
Alonso doesn’t get his man despite Chelsea attempts
“Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka, who was the subject of an £8m bid from Chelsea at the end of last month, has pledged his commitment to Sunderland,” they wrote.
“The club have accepted Sunderland’s decision not to sell Xhaka (as well as his choice to stay) and will not make another attempt to sign him.”
So it’s some early bad news for Alonso. Although at a similar time to it becoming clear that Xhaka wouldn’t be going, a statement from Real Madrid made it clear that they wouldn’t be moving for Enzo Fernandez.
So Alonso will have a midfielder to work with, even if it’s not the one he might have wanted.
In other news…
Chelsea are going to sign “at least” one central defender this summer. They’ve then got a tough job on their hands to sell multiple others.
The Deal Sheet also covered the major arrival of the year so far – Marco Palestra’s signing from Atalanta and what that means for the likes of Malo Gusto.
