Arsenal star set for new role as Atletico Madrid move falls through

Granit Xhaka looks set to stay at Arsenal this summer after a potential move to Spanish giants Atletico Madrid fell through.

Atletico were said to be seriously weighing up a move for the Swiss star, but are now poised to bring in Marcos Llorente from city rivals Real Madrid instead.

The LaLiga side have been in the hunt for a new central midfielder to replace Rodri, who is on the brink of joining Manchester City in a £62million deal.

Llorente’s agent met with Atletico on Wednesday and a deal was thrashed out to sign the 24-year-old for around £35m.

Xhaka’s Arsenal future has been in doubt since he was linked with a move to Inter Milan earlier this summer, although a bid never materialised from the Serie A side.

The report in the Daily Star goes on to add that the 26-year-old midfielder is happy at The Emirates, where he still has four years left to run on his contract.

Granit Xhaka TEAMtalk

He is also considered to be a huge part of Unai Emery’s plans for next season, and with Petr Cech heading back to Chelsea in a backroom role and Laurent Koscielny also tipped to leave – Xhaka is a major candidate to take up the club captaincy.

The club are, however, willing to listen to offers Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi and look set to bank around £4m from the sale of goalkeeper David Ospina to Napoli.

 

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