Mourinho Set To Make Arsenal Star Xhaka First Roma Signing
Arsenal have named their price for Granit Xhaka with Jose Mourinho keen to make the Switzerland international the first signing of his Roma tenure.
Roma moved quickly to appoint Mourinho earlier this month after taking the decision to part company with Paulo Fonseca.
The 58-year-old inherits a team that was crushed by Manchester United in the Europa League semi-finals and finished seventh in the Italian league, a distant 16 points behind fourth placed Juventus.
Xhaka, meanwhile, has proven to be a divisive figure during his five-year spell in north London and, despite his obvious flaws, he has been a mainstay of the team under three successive managers.
Current Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has regularly spoken in glowing terms of the 28-year-old but with the Gunners needing to undergo a summer overhaul of their own, Sky Italy claim they are prepared to let the former Borussia Monchengladbach star depart.
Arsenal are ready to value Xhaka at around €25m but Roma are hoping to negotiate a deal worth around €20m, including bonuses.
That would represent a significant loss on the £34m Arsenal paid for Xhaka prior to Euro 2016, but the player has just over two years left on his current contract and talks over a new deal are not likely to be forthcoming.
