Neom SC reach verbal agreement with Bayer Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka | OneFootball

Granit Xhaka has reached a verbal agreement to join Neom SC, according to Florian Plettenberg. The 32-year-old will earn a reported €10m per year at the Saudi Pro League club, who announced their interest in the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder late last week.

Juventus had also shown an interest in signing Xhaka but would only be able to offer a salary of around €3.5m per year, significantly lower than Neom SC’s offer. Die Werkself have also placed a €8m-€15m valuation on Xhaka but, per Plettenberg, a fee of around €6m has been presented to Leverkusen with no agreement yet reached. Although ‘new and potentially decisive’ talks are expected to take place on Monday.

Promoted from the second division, Neom SC have already heavily invested in their squad, spending €43.73m on transfers this summer with the arrivals of Marcin Bulka (Nice, €15m), Amadou Kone (Stade de Reims, €13.33m), Said Benrhama (Lyon, €12m) and Faris Abdi (Al-Fayha, €3.4m), while Alexandre Lacazette has also joined the club upon the expiry of his contract. Whether Xhaka is the next high-profile player to make the switch to Saudi remains to be seen, but there is considerable interest from Neom SC.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder