Why Chelsea Want Sunderland’s Granit Xhaka – At the Right Price

Actions over words. That was the logical response to the messaging from Stamford Bridge ahead of this summer transfer window indicating that, finally, Chelsea were prepared to change their recruitment focus to bolster their squad with more experienced players.

The idea that Xabi Alonso’s appointment as manager rather than head coach would give him greater say over the club’s transfer activity was greeted with similar scepticism. Chelsea have five senior executives with different areas of recruitment responsibility, a vast global scouting network and a co-owner in Behdad Eghbali who is actively involved in decision-making.

It is far from a done deal, but Chelsea’s tabling of an £8million ($10.6m) opening offer for Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka is a strong sign the above claims may have real substance.

Alonso, having enjoyed spectacular success with Xhaka at Bayer Leverkusen, is driving this move. Sunderland turned down the offer and insist the Switzerland international is not for sale but, as reported in this week’s DealSheet, Chelsea have not given up hope of bringing him to Stamford Bridge this summer.

Xhaka, who turns 34 in September, would be the oldest Chelsea signing since the purchase of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (who was also 33 at the time) from Barcelona in the summer of 2022. That, perhaps not coincidentally, was the last time the club’s recruitment strategy was so obviously influenced by their head coach, though BlueCo did not hire Thomas Tuchel and quickly decided they could not work with him.

Granit Xhaka celebrates Sunderland’s victory over Chelsea and Europa League qualification on the final day of the 2025-26 seasonStu Forster/Getty Images

Chelsea have made it a priority over the last four years to extricate themselves from most of the signings made in that summer transfer window, and the two oldest arrivals — Aubameyang and Kalidou Koulibaly, who was 31 at the time — were the first to be ushered to the exit door. Only one BlueCo signing has been over 25 years old in the four years since: Tosin Adarabioyo (26 at the time), who arrived at Stamford Bridge on a free transfer in the summer of 2024.

None of this context means Xhaka would automatically be a bad signing, but it does underline just how drastic a shift this deal would be from BlueCo’s established recruitment focus.

There is real football merit to Chelsea wanting Xhaka, particularly if Alonso is planning to implement something that resembles the 3-4-2-1 system he deployed at Leverkusen. The Switzerland international was critical to that team’s phenomenal unbeaten Bundesliga triumph in 2023-24, setting the tempo in the heart of midfield and putting the team’s dynamic wing-backs, Alex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong, in position to play the best football of their careers.

Also highly relevant to Chelsea is the fact that Xhaka consistently brought his quality to bear for Sunderland in the Premier League last season. Only three players created more than his four assists from set pieces in 2025-26. In open play, he knows exactly when to dictate patient possession and when to pick more progressive options from his position at the base of midfield, and has the passing range to find team-mates in more advanced positions.

He recorded six passes that broke three or more of the opposition’s lines last season, more than any other central or defensive midfielder in the Premier League, while only Elliot Anderson, at the heart of the Nottingham Forest midfield, made more than his 32 passes that broke two lines of opposition pressure.

Chelsea got a close look at Xhaka’s sharp eye for a forward pass in home and away defeats to Sunderland in the league last season.

Here is Xhaka firing the ball through a narrow gap into the feet of Wilson Isidor during Sunderland’s 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last October…

… and here he is giving multiple Brentford defenders the eyes to spring Enzo Le Fee into space in the final third in a 2-1 home victory for Sunderland last August.

Chelsea already have central midfielders capable of playing such passes, but the futures of Enzo Fernandez and Andrey Santos are far from certain and the injury-plagued Romeo Lavia has never managed the 30 or more league starts that Xhaka has recorded in each of his last four seasons at Arsenal, Leverkusen and Sunderland.

Moises Caicedo is well equipped to cover the ground that Xhaka no longer can in the middle of the pitch, provided he gets a substantial post-World Cup break to refresh his overloaded body. Dario Essugo can reasonably hope to be more available next season, and is in Chelsea’s plans. The fixture schedule will also be far more forgiving without any European football.

But for all Xhaka’s enduring on-pitch quality, the impact of his presence in a Chelsea dressing room that has repeatedly had its leadership and discipline questioned in the BlueCo era might be even more profound.

The notion of Xhaka as a calm leader of men will be jarring to anyone old enough to remember the significant disciplinary problems in his past; this is a footballer who was sent off nine times in three years for club or country between April 2014 and January 2017, and five times in seven years at Arsenal.

But his last red card was in January 2022. Indiscipline was not an issue for Xhaka under Alonso at Leverkusen, who signed him from Arsenal in the summer of 2023 to, in the words of their sporting director Simon Rolfes, “rewire dressing room dynamics”. The club’s model of signing and developing young players had worked to a point but had created a brittle team, not resilient enough to show their best qualities in the face of adversity. Sound familiar, Chelsea fans?

The additions of Xhaka, Grimaldo and Jonas Hofman, coupled with the hiring of Alonso, transformed Leverkusen’s on-pitch identity into a side that became known for rescuing themselves rather than accepting defeat and finding late goals when they needed them, to the extent that they became champions and navigated an entire Bundesliga season unbeaten.

Xhaka was only one factor in that success, but he is widely credited with bringing invaluable maturity to that Leverkusen team. As well as being a model of professionalism and resilience, he knew how to talk to team-mates across social and age groups, lifting them in times of difficulty. He also understood the nuances of the game: when to be patient, when to show urgency, when to disrupt an opponent’s rhythm with a smart foul.

Chelsea, who have had the youngest average squad age in the Premier League in each of the last two seasons while racking up the most yellow and red cards in the division, would clearly be improved by the nous and emotional stability that Xhaka brought to Leverkusen and Sunderland. The key question is how much is that worth?

Granit Xhaka’s was a reassuring presence for young talents like Florian Wirtz (right) at Bayer LeverkusenLars Baron/Getty Images

Sunderland clearly feel they got good value for the package worth up to £17.5million they paid Leverkusen for Xhaka in the summer of 2025. As captain, he led Regis Le Bris’ newly promoted squad to a seventh-place finish in the Premier League and European qualification for the first time in 53 years. It is no wonder Chelsea’s opening offer was deemed disrespectful as well as deficient, but it was not egregiously lower than other deals made for players of Xhaka’s age.

The largest fee a Premier League club has ever paid for a 33-year-old is £15.4million, by Manchester City for Barcelona’s Claudio Bravo in the summer of 2016. Goalkeepers age on a different curve and their transfer values tend to differ accordingly; the most expensive 33-year-old outfielder is Aubameyang, who cost Chelsea £12million four years ago.

Any deal far in excess of that price range carries huge risks, particularly on the contract front.

Xhaka is one of Sunderland’s top earners at an estimated £140,000 per week and his current deal runs until June 2028, when he will be approaching his 36th birthday. Footballers tend to expect a salary bump when transferring teams, but would Chelsea also be required to commit to paying him beyond the next two years? Casemiro was the only midfielder to start 30 or more Premier League games in 2025-26 who is older than Xhaka, and he is moving to MLS this summer.

Chelsea’s pursuit of Xhaka is interesting, and it is easy to see why they want him.

It is also easy to understand why they want him at the right price.

Source: www.nytimes.com/