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Roma have opened talks with Granit Xhaka about a summer move.
Jose Mourinho, newly installed at the Serie A club, wants to bring him to Italy, having long been an admirer of the Swiss international captain.
Initial indications are that the opening bid they have made for Xhaka is way below Arsenal’s valuation of the player, who still has two years left on his current contract at the Emirates.
However, negotiations are continuing, and the noises coming from Arsenal are that are willing to sell him to raise funds for their own summer rebuild.
Xhaka almost left the Gunners 18 months ago, after he was stripped of the captaincy after a public show of dissent after being substituted in a game when Unai Emery was in charge of the club.
Hi successor Mikel Arteta persuaded him to stay, and he was one of the better performers I what was overall a disappointing campaign for the North Londoners last season.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.