Granit Xhaka was seen to refuse to accept the captain’s armband during Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Brentford today, and the manager has played down the incident.
The Swiss midfielder was the captain from kick-off in the reverse fixture, with both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette absent with illness. The Frenchman has since been promoted as the captain of the side, and when Eddie Nketiah was tasked with passing the armband on, Xhaka was seen to refuse.
It caused quite the stir for the fans to witness this, with the young English forward then seen to be confused before deciding to pass it onto Kieran Tierney instead.
While Piers Morgan blamed the lack of real leadership within the squad for the incident, some of us (myself included) may well have been feeling disrespected by his actions, and Arteta moved to downplay the incident.
When asked why Xhaka had refused to take the armband, to which the Metro quotes him as explaining: ‘Because it was for Kieran. Kieran was the next in line and that’s the reason why.’
Probed further on whether Nketiah was given the wrong instruction, Arteta added: ‘Maybe Eddie didn’t pick it up and Granit told him he should have to give it to Kieran. That’s it.’
I’m really in two minds as to how to feel about this. On one hand it felt disrespectful to reject the armband, but at the same time, it could simply be down to the new hierarchy of leadership.
Those who saw the incident, do you believe it is being blown out of proportion?
Patrick
WATCH Arteta’s FULL press conference after Brentford win..