Xhaka was on the verge of leaving Arsenal for Roma last season, according to Di Marzio, when Jose Mourinho made him his first priority after taking over as Roma manager.

However, no compensation was ever agreed upon with the Italian team, and the flamboyant Swiss international stayed at the club, signing a new three-year contract.

The veteran joined the Gunners in 2016 for a lucrative cost of £40 million (Transfermarkt), after making 250 appearances in all competitions for Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany.

It looks like things are heating up again this window for the Gunners veteran to make his exit, with reporter Ekrem Konur tweeting that Bayern Leverkusen are preparing a loan bid with a permanent transfer option:

It appears that Mikel Arteta may already be preparing for the heavily-relied-upon midfielder’s exit.

With reports surfacing that Arsenal are reportedly working on a deal to sign Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans (as per The Sun) and Lazio’s 27-year-old Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (as per Corriere dello Sport).