Former Premier League goal king, Alan Shearer, has slammed the Chelsea board for their ’embarrassing’ bid for Sunderland’s star player and former Arsenal captain, Granit Xhaka.
Xhaka has become a target for the incoming Chelsea manager, Xabi Alonso, who previously worked with the midfielder during their time at Bayer Leverkusen.
Together, Alonso and Xhaka played a pivotal role in leading Leverkusen to a historic Bundesliga title in the 2023-2024 season, where the German club remained unbeaten in the league, achieving 28 victories and six draws.
Having served as Arsenal’s captain, Xhaka demonstrated his value once more last season with newly-promoted Sunderland, who surpassed expectations by finishing in the top half of the Premier League.
Alonso is confident that Xhaka can provide the much-needed experience and leadership to a struggling Chelsea team, which ended the previous season in 10th place.
Last week, Chelsea made an £8m offer for Xhaka, but Sunderland promptly rejected it, labeling the bid as disrespectful and reaffirming their position that the 33-year-old is not available for transfer.
All-time leading Premier League scorer Shearer also deemed the offer ‘ridiculous’ considering Xhaka’s significance to Sunderland following his £17m transfer.
He told Betfair, “Sunderland bought Granit Xhaka for £17m and he was one of the best players in this Premier League last season.
“He wasn’t just one of the best players at Sunderland, but in the Premier League. And Chelsea think they can come in and offer less than half of what they bought him for and think that’s acceptable?
“I mean, that’s bizarre to me. I understand that he might want to go, but if he wants to go and clearly his agent has done some talking to Chelsea, then I mean it’s a pretty embarrassing bid when a year earlier he cost £17m and he’s been one of the best players in the league.
“It’s embarrassing from Chelsea, really. I mean, they’re clearly not getting him for that amount.
“Why would you sell a player for less than half that he cost when he’s been one of the best players? I mean, it’s ridiculous.”
While Chelsea angered Sunderland with their opening offer for Xhaka, they are expected to return with an improved bid, according to The Athletic.