Jose Mourinho has reportedly identified Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka as one of his summer transfer targets, with the Gunners rejecting a €15m bid from the Portuguese’s Roma outfit.
This comes from BBC Sport, with the offer apparently falling short of the London-based side’s valuation of the Swiss.
The 28-year-old has been a regular in Mikel Arteta’s first-XI this year, making 31 league appearances as the Premier League club finished outside of the European spots in eighth place last term.
The former Bundesliga star played the full 90 minutes of Switzerland’s 1-1 stalemate against Wales in the European Championship, with the national team denied their first three points of the competition courtesy of a Kieffer Moore equaliser in the second-half.
With a contract not set to expire until the summer of 2023, not to mention having played a significantly greater role in Arsenal’s season this time around, the club are in a good position to request a higher fee from the Serie A team.
Given that the Londoners reportedly paid Borussia Mönchengladbach roughly to the tune of £30-£35m for Xhaka’s services, doubt must be cast over a bid under £20m being accepted.
Indeed, with Arteta evidently seeing value in the Switzerland international in the prior campaign, it’s possible that the midfielder could be held onto for the next term.