Izuchukwu OkosiGerman Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday confirmed the signing of Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka on a permanent deal.
Xhaka arrived in Germany earlier on Thursday ahead of the move where he will link up with former Premier League icon, Xabi Alonso who is now in charge of the Bundesliga side.
The agreement for the transfer of the Switzerland captain who was once the skipper at Arsenal had been reached since May between the two clubs.
However the deal was help up as the Gunners searched for a replacement which is now sorted following the apparent signing of £105m British record transfer of Declan Rice from West Ham United.
Arsenal will receive the sum of €25m (£21.5m) from Leverkusen – a decent amount for the star who has just one year left on his contract.
Sources in Germany indicate that Xhaka will sign a five-year contract until June 2028.
Xhaka was thought to be leaving the English club three seasons ago when he had a face off with the Arsenal fan base but was persuaded by Arteta to renew his contract albeit the captain’s armband had been taken off him beforehand.
The move back to Germany where he played his club football before signing for Arsenal was reportedly a decision taken by the 31-year old whose wife preferred to relocate back to Germany.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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