Swiss wants to be Sunderland
© Imago
Bayer Leverkusen’s trainer Erik Ten Hag does not want to let the granite Xhaka willing to change to England. “Granite is a leading player, he signed for five years and has three years of contract. He is too important for us to give it,” said the 55-year-old in the Werkelf training camp in Rio de Janeiro of the “Bild” newspaper.
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According to the matching media reports, Xhaka has reached AFC Sunderland AFC. The 32-year-old asked his employer to quickly handle the transfer, as the “The Athletic” portal reports. The captain of the Swiss national team only wants to go to Sunderland. But the new Bayer coach resist. “This club has already given three important players. We won’t give up more players, that is not possible. That would neglect the structure and the culture of the squad,” said Ten Hag. Previously, Ua Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong (both Liverpool) and Jonathan Tah (FC Bayern) left the association for a total of 167 million euros. Leverkusen’s coaching this summer amounts to EUR 190.5 million, while the expenses are just under EUR 102 million.
Xhakas Agent José Noguera had previously confirmed the change of midfielder. “We have fundamentally agreed with Sunderland. Granite wants to go back to the Premier League. Sunderland excites him, he wants to accept this challenge. We hope that Leverkusen will agree to his desire to change and to agree on the clubs in a timely manner,” said Noguera “Sky”. Leverkusen’s sports manager Simon Rolfes recently said in the training camp as a possible Xhaka sale: “Granite is a very important player for us, for the club and for the team. Our main interest is to keep it.” There would only be a transfer in a “win-win situation”.
The ideas of the clubs are said to be far apart. According to the “picture”, Sunderland has so far offered 10 million euros for Xhaka, but Bayer is said to demand 20 million euros for him. Xhaka, whose market value is 12 million euros, was one of the key players at the first German championship of the club under coach Xabi Alonso last year.