Sunderland blocked captain Granit Xhaka's move to Chelsea and now has its sights on Marc Guiu — a double blow to the Blues, depending on perspective.
Following rumors of Granit Xhaka's possible arrival at Chelsea at the direct request of coach Xabi Alonso, negotiations stalled, as Sunderland does not plan to sell its captain. In response, the Blues backed out of the signing to maintain a good relationship with the club. Remember that during the previous campaign, the club loaned Marc Guiu to the Black Cats, but less than a month later, they had to "recover" him after the injury to Liam Delap.
Even so, his urgent return to Stamford Bridge was not synonymous with minutes, since he practically did not receive opportunities during the rest of the season from coach Liam Rosenior. That is why Sunderland would be interested -along with many other teams- in being able to sign the Spanish striker permanently, according to information from Ben Jacobs.
He commented on the podcast London Is Blue: "I think it's not impossible that Marc Guiu is sold permanently. Sunderland are still interested, having had to have him on loan and then send him back. But there are other clubs as well; Ipswich could be another one to watch. And I'd also heard that Fiorentina quite likes the player, too. So he will be quite easy for Chelsea to offload because they only signed him for £5 million."
Currently, Guiu is in the club's preseason under the Spanish coach's orders. However, rumors indicate that he is working separately from the other players because he does not fit into Alonso's plans, and the board would be working to find him a place during this summer transfer window. As mentioned above, he does seem to have several suitors.
Similar to his case is that of Alejandro Garnacho, who would have permission not to report to training because his departure from the club is practically assured. The club expects to recover the £40 million it invested in him last year. So they cannot afford to incur an injury during training, so he will be kept resting until they can find him a club.
Without a doubt, two painful cases for the club, since they were two players who arrived as very promising prospects, as both showed flashes of quality during their time at their previous clubs (Manchester United and FC Barcelona). Let's hope Jamie Gittens can finally show why Chelsea made such a large investment in him (£51.5 million), since the team needs quality left-wingers who don't get injured every 3 games.
