The first sign of trouble came on June 27, when Italian journalist Luca Cerchione posted that Chelsea wanted Granit Xhaka. Xabi Alonso had asked for him personally. The offer was 30 million euros. The response from Sunderland was basically: no.
Now we’re into July, and this thing has turned into a genuine power struggle inside Chelsea. According to Cerchione, who broke the initial story and has nearly 35,000 followers on X, Alonso considers Xhaka “essential” to his project at Stamford Bridge. The club’s ownership group, BlueCo, sees a 33-year-old midfielder with a £25 million price tag and wants no part of it.
Cerchione posted on July 3: “Granit Xhaka would be outside Chelsea’s parameters, as for a footballer over 30, they would never invest 25 million pounds.” He described a “real tug-of-war” between Alonso and the front office, with the manager insisting on the purchase while the owners decide whether to indulge their new coach.
How Did We Get Here?
Sunderland signed Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen for £17.5 million in summer 2025, just a year after he’d nearly joined AC Milan. That deal collapsed, so he went to the Stadium of Light instead. Now he wants back in London, and reuniting with Alonso — who coached him at Leverkusen — is apparently a major motivator.
Transfer insider Fabrizio Romano told Time2Play on July 1 that Xhaka is “pushing hard” for the move. Chelsea has already submitted an initial proposal, and Romano says they’ll improve it soon. The first offer was around £8 million, which Sunderland turned down flat. The Black Cats don’t want to sell. Xhaka is under contract and they have no reason to let him go cheap.
The Owner Problem
This is where it gets sticky for Alonso. BlueCo has been pretty consistent about not throwing big money at players over 30. That’s the whole point of their recruitment model — buy young, sell high, keep the wage bill manageable. Xhaka at £25 million and age 33 doesn’t fit that profile at all. But Alonso apparently doesn’t care about the profile. He cares about winning now.
Cerchione noted that Chelsea doesn’t even need to negotiate with Sunderland because they already know the valuation. The decision is internal: do they let Alonso have his guy, or do they hold the line and risk tension with a manager they just hired?
Xhaka, for his part, is playing for Switzerland at the 2026 World Cup and isn’t touching the question. “That’s not my job,” he said when asked about Chelsea. “I have my management for that. I want to concentrate fully on the World Cup.”
What Sunderland Thinks
Former Sunderland striker Marco Gabbiadini weighed in on BBC Radio Newcastle and suggested there might be more to this than just a transfer. “I thought it could be more down to his future in terms of coaching, and wanting to create some kind of connection with Alonso,” Gabbiadini said. “Could it be he steps into a coaching role at some stage with him?”
He called the situation “disappointing for Sunderland fans” and noted that Xhaka’s agents are clearly working on something even if the player himself is staying quiet publicly. The whole thing feels like it’s going to come down to whether Alonso has enough leverage to push this through. Right now, it’s not clear he does.
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