Charlie Nicholas believes Granit Xhaka’s career at the Emirates is finished.
The fallout from Granit Xhaka’s reaction towards the club’s fans is what was expected. It seems there is no way back for the former Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder at the moment.
Xhaka has struggled to win over the fans for most of his career at the Emirates. It certainly got no easier when he was made the team’s captain.
Xhaka has hardly inspired confidence since being given the captains responsibility and Sunday’s episode is the last straw according to Nicholas.
Nicholas admits the club has had an issue with leadership for about five years now.
He, however, believes Xhaka shouldn’t be let back into the team and says he would be surprised if the midfielder pulled on an Arsenal jersey again.
Unacceptable
“He’s representing Arsenal as a captain and it is unacceptable to think you’re as big as anything at the club. His behaviour was atrocious, and I don’t see him having a future at the club,” Nicholas said.
“I think the bosses at Arsenal, and not just Unai Emery, are probably looking at this and thinking what is Arsenal meant to be? It’s got a great history. It’s got some fabulous players but if it doesn’t have the crowd it doesn’t have a soul, it doesn’t have a heartbeat.
“The crowd will always be the element of the football club. They are bigger and better than anyone else who’s involved in it, so he’ll have to take his medicine. I’ll be surprised if he comes back in any capacity to play for Arsenal again.”
Emery is set to meet with Xhaka this week and the fans expect the subject of leadership wILL be discussed. Many of them hope he is stripped of the captaincy before he steps onto the field to represent them again.