Arsenal: 5 midfielders in line for summer departures

5. Granit Xhaka

One can dream, right?

Setting the record straight, between now and the end of the season Granit Xhaka will be invaluable to Arsenal. Keeping his partnership with Thomas Partey in tact across the remaining 17 matches can be the deciding factor in whether or not top four is secured.

The win ratio when those two play together (71%) is far greater than when they’re not side-by-side (43%). But one can be prepared for the future without Xhaka – longing for it, in fact – and still understand his importance for the current group. He’s someone who has continued to dabble with the idea of departing before his contract expires, with clubs in Germany as well as Roma all said to be monitoring his progress.

The more likely outcome is that he does stay, even if that was said prior to the summer, due to the sheer volume of work needing to happen over the summer, but never say never.

If Arsenal were to make it into the Champions League then the £13m offer they received previously becomes a far more acceptable fee. Of course they’d like more, but he will be one year older by then and money will be in the bank along with the wage bill being drastically reduced.

Will go he? Perhaps he might.

Estimated fee: £12m