‘As of today, I’m here’ – Granit Xhaka on his Bayer Leverkusen future | OneFootball

Ahead of Switzerland’s friendly against Mexico in Salt Lake City, Granit Xhaka had an opportunity to address his Bayer Leverkusen future after it emerged that Milan were interested in the Bundesliga and German Cup champion.

With Xabi Alonso leaving Leverkusen for Real Madrid, Jonathan Tah switching to Bayern Munich and Jeremie Frimpong joining Liverpool, with Florian Wirtz also potentially heading out of the door at the BayArena, Xhaka explained his reasoning by his recent comments, which suggested that he was about to return to Basel.

“I already experience a major upheaval at Arsenal in 2019 […] That takes a lot of energy,” said Xhaka. “And I’m no longer 25. I’ll be 33 in September. And of course, the players who are leaving or have left are a huge loss, definitely […] Because they were extremely important for the team.”

Xhaka has three-years remaining on his contract, but that hasn’t stopped clubs showing an interest in signing Xhaka. Directly addressing his future, Xhaka added: “With Simon Rolfes and Fernando Carro, we have enough players who can hopefully get the team back to that level. Whether it’s with or without me is another question. But as of today, I’m here. We’re happy and that’s what matters.”

But Xhaka also admitted that a move away could be interesting.

“I haven’t played everywhere yet,” added the 32-year-old. “Of course, you think about it but as I said, my mind is far away. I have my family and my management to take care of such things. And when the time comes and you have an offer on the table, then you start thinking about it. And when the time comes for a transfer to take place, I’ll definitely let you know.”

GGFN | Daniel Pinder