Wednesday, 15th February, 2012

Basel sporting director Georg Heitz has confirmed that Manchester United, Juventus and CSKA Moscow want the club’s promising midfielder Granit Xhaka – but insisted the trio are not the only interested parties.

Following Basel’s agreement to sell Xherdan Shaqiri to Bayern Munich in the summer, 19-year-old Xhaka has emerged as the Swiss champions’ next most saleable asset, even if Heitz is adamant that the side are in no rush to part with the youngster.

Xhaka is in the midst of a highly productive season at St. Jakob Park and has turned in displays which belie his tender years.


Already Juventus have been mooted as having bid €10M for the midfielder, while Manchester United and CSKA Moscow stand ready to become involved in the transfer tussle.

And Heitz admits that Xhaka has more than his fair share of admirers.

Asked by Calcio Mercato about interest from the trio, Basel’s transfer supremo confirmed that they are interested in Xhaka, but insisted, they are not the only ones.

"I don’t like to name names", said Heitz. "I can only say that there are many clubs who are tracking him, not just these."

Pressed on the existence of a €10M offer from Antonio Conte’s Juventus, Heitz was coy, although did explain bids have come, and specifically named Hamburg as having made an approach.

"I don’t want to unsettle him with offers and who made them, however I can only confirm that concrete offers were made and from these offers I can only officially confirm one from Hamburg."

And when Xhaka does leave, he will not be cheap, although Basel have no intention of yielding him just yet.

"I don’t like to talk about figures, but he’s obviously a player who has won the World Cup with his age group [Xhaka won the FIFA Under-19 World Cup in 2009. ed] and is under contract with us for another three and a half years, so if he did leave, we’ll certainly not give him away.

"In all honesty, our intention is to keep him. But of course, in football you never know what can happen."

Xhaka broke through to the senior Switzerland side last year, making his debut against England at Wembley.

This season he has helped Heiko Vogel’s men into the last 16 of the Champions League.

   Latest Features:

Follow Inside Futbol on Twitter