{"id":536335,"date":"2019-11-05T16:06:01","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T21:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=536335"},"modified":"2019-11-05T16:06:01","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T21:06:01","slug":"granit-xhaka-arsenal-captaincy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2019\/11\/05\/granit-xhaka-arsenal-captaincy\/","title":{"rendered":"Official: Granit Xhaka Stripped of Arsenal Captaincy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what can only be described as an inevitable turn of events, Arsenal<\/a>‘s Granit Xhaka<\/a> has lost the club captaincy. Unai Emery confirmed the decision<\/a> ahead of the Gunners’ Europa League tie against Vitoria Guimaraes on Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Granit Xhaka Stripped of Arsenal Armband<\/h2>\n

Inevitable<\/h3>\n

Few will be surprised at Unai Emery’s decision after the club’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace<\/a> last month. On that night, Xhaka goaded fans to jeer him, threw the armband to the ground by the feet of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang<\/a> and tore off his shirt before storming off the pitch.<\/p>\n

That behaviour tied the hands of both the player’s coach and club. A captain cannot act in such a way, regardless of the fact that the treatment Xhaka received was overly harsh.<\/p>\n

Unai Emery previously avoided the question of the captaincy. Subsequent to the event, the head coach confirmed Xhaka’s feelings of remorse<\/a>, yet refused to clarify the future of the then club captain.<\/p>\n

“He is now devastated, devastated and sad. We spoke yesterday and on Sunday night I also spoke. This morning, he trained as normal with the group but he is devastated and he is sad about the situation.<\/p>\n

“No, no, no – at the moment, I am not speaking and I don\u2019t want to speak about that [his future as captain]. The first is for him to recover. We cannot anticipate the circumstance because I we are going to play a match on Wednesday, on Saturday and I prefer to keep moving, taking each step, and taking the best decision possible.”<\/p>\n

However, Emery finally made his decision clear ahead of Wednesday’s match.<\/p>\n

‘Auba’ Named Captain<\/h3>\n

Aubameyang is now the main club captain with the three deputees remaining the same<\/a>: Alexandre Lacazette<\/a>, Hector Bellerin<\/a> and Mesut Ozil<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We have now Aubameyang, Hector, Lacazette and Ozil. They are the four captains and the first now is Aubameyang.”<\/p>\n

This news will surely lift a fan base who will worry about the club’s European fate for next season as they prepare to face third-place Leicester City<\/a> at the weekend.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>