Granit Xhaka has fallen out of favour at Arsenal ever since he got into a tussle with the Gunners home crowd and right now he is nowhere close to the first-team squad.
The Swiss international chose to hurl abuses at the fans while being substituted and then walk off into the dressing room.
And while the fans expected some immediate punishment but the club chose to take pretty long to hand out their judgement.
Granit Xhaka has been stipped off the captaincy as the manager announced that Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang will be the next captain of the club.
“Again, we can do one step more with him. He’s not here today but also I think we need to take time with him, first to protect him and also to be calm and training with us every day,” Emery had said.
“But I was speaking with him this morning and also I decided he’s not one of the captains in our group and I decided that and I told him this morning
“He accepted my decision and also I told the captain and other captains my decision, we need to carry on and to focus on tomorrow’s match and Saturday’s match.
“I needed to take one decision, and now it is closed. We have now Aubameyang, Hector, Lacazette and Ozil – they are the four captains, and first is now Aubameyang,”
And now it is being reported that Granit Xhaka will play no further part for the first-team this season and will be sold off by the club during the January transfer window.
All said and done, the midfielder is still a fine talent meaning the club will surely have no problems in offloading him and it looks like Newcastle United are interested in bringing him on board.
The Magpies are currently 15th on the league table and Steve Bruce has so far done a pretty good job in keeping the club out of the relegation zone.
But if they can get the services of Granit Xhaka then surely they will make a pretty good case of finishing in the top ten by the end of the season.
While it still remains to be seen whether the Swiss international will be keen to join Newcastle United or not but it is very much clear that Granit Xhaka will not be at the Emirates beyond the January transfer window.
Update:
Now it is even more certain that Granit Xhaka will be sold off by Arsenal in January after Unai Emery told reports on Friday that the midfielder has refused to play for the club.
“I spoke with him on Tuesday for how he is feeling now and his mind because he is training well but he said to me he can’t play,” Emery told a news conference.
