Sunderland Reject Laughable Chelsea Bid For Granit Xhaka as Xabi Alonso Request Revealed

In another surprising twist in the ongoing transfer tale, Sunderland have rejected an £8m bid from Chelsea for Black Cats captain Granit Xhaka.

According to uber-reliable reporter David Ornstein on X, Sunderland rejected the paltry offer for the Swiss captain on Sunday evening, with the Black Cats hierarchy insisting to the Blues that Xhaka is “not for sale at any price” this summer.

Furthermore, the report adds that Chelsea somehow felt the £8m bid for Sunderland’s captain and one of the Premier League’s best central midfielders was “fair”, but their Premier League rivals believed it was an unacceptable and disrespectful proposal, meaning that no further proposals will be entertained by the Black Cats. 

The news has quickly taken the footballing world by storm after shock reports emerged outlining that Chelsea were making a move for Xhaka ahead of next season as part of the rebuild under Xabi Alonso, the 33-year-old midfielder’s former Bayer Leverkusen boss. 

According to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, Xhaka wants to leave Sunderland for Chelsea due to his connection with Alonso and his wish to return to living in London, as he did for almost a decade during his Arsenal days.

However, the actions of Chelsea could have scuppered Xhaka’s purported hopes permanently, given the incredibly low offer tabled for the Swiss stalwart, whose value to Sunderland is so disproportionately high compared to what he’s realistically worth to any transfer suitor.

Despite the fact that Xhaka will be turning 34-years-of-age in the early stages of next season, the offer has been viewed as disrespectful by the Sunderland hierarchy, and understandably so. 

Given that Sunderland signed Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen in a deal in the region of £17m just last summer, an acceptance of the £8m Blues bid would see the Black Cats make a considerable financial loss on a player they are desperate to keep and are under no pressure to part ways with. 

Xhaka’s age is not in the equation for his parent club, and as a result, Chelsea will have to muster a much-improved offer to have any hope of signing Sunderland’s most important player and their 2025/26 Player of the Season. 

Following the rejection, Romano has added that “£8m is not enough”, but that Xhaka and his camp continue to push for the move and that Chelsea will continue talks with the Black Cats’ transfer team this week to unlock the move.

With Xhaka and Alonso said to be extremely keen on working together once again, information from extremely reputable Sunderland Echo reporter James Copley, that “Xabi Alonso made it clear during talks with Chelsea that he wanted Granit Xhaka.”

Therefore, the move has been simmering in the background for several weeks now at Stamford Bridge, and the pursuit of Xhaka will show the Spaniard truly how much of the influence over transfers he desires at Chelsea will he be given.

The coming days, with Chelsea’s second proposal in the offing, will illustrate how much influence the ex-Real Madrid manager truly has at the London giants, or whether it is just an illusion of power.