Fabrizio Romano shares Arsenal’s immediate priority after signing Ben White

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After signing Ben White, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Arsenal are fully focused on convincing Granit Xhaka to sign a new contract.

The Gunners’ priority over the last few weeks has been a move for the Englishman. He was undoubtedly our top target, and now that he’s here, Arsenal are focusing on the next task at hand.

AS Roma were desperate to sign Xhaka this summer. Most Arsenal fans were convinced that he was leaving, but it looks like that move has collapsed, and the Gunners have decided to keep hold of him now.

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Arsenal are confident Granit Xhaka will sign a new contract

The Athletic broke the news about a new deal for the Swiss international earlier today. Edu and Arteta reportedly decided that keeping hold of an in-form Xhaka, who’s in the prime of his career, makes more sense than forking out something like £40 million on a new central midfielder.

Romano has now backed that claim on Twitter. He has revealed that Xhaka had agreed terms with Roma over a move this summer, but an agreement between the two clubs couldn’t be reached.

As a result, Arsenal are focused on extending Xhaka’s contract. The Swiss international is set to be offered a four-year deal with a better salary than what he’s currently on. Edu’s proposal is expected to trump what Roma had offered him as well, which could tempt the midfielder to stay.

The Insider’s View:

A section of Arsenal’s fan base will surely be against this, but this move makes a lot of sense.

Xhaka is in the prime of his career. He had his best campaign in an Arsenal shirt last season and he was phenomenal for Switzerland at the Euros as well. He arguably understands Arteta’s system better than anyone else and he’s a real leader too.

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Players like Manuel Locatelli or Bruno Guimaraes would’ve certainly been exciting signings for us. However, Xhaka’s an excellent player too, and keeping hold of him is not a bad idea at all this summer.

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Shamanth is a professional football journalist from Bangalore, India. Shamanth is highly opinionated about the game and has been a passionate Arsenal supporter for the better part of the last two decades.